Welcome to Pegasus, Jennifer Keller
by DaniWilder
Summary: AU of Jennifer on Atlantis. Set in the time frame of the series and describes her first mission in the Pegasus galaxy. McKeller.
1. First Away Mission

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: This is another AU because Carson does not die in Sunday. It's set within the time frame of the series. If folks like it, I'll continue it. Jennifer might appear somewhat OOC, but I know she does have strength; the series writers did not consistently show it. I'm also trying to write a story all from one character's POV. A real challenge for me.  
**

* * *

Doctor Jennifer Keller stepped through the Stargate onto her second alien planet in as many weeks. Taking a deep breath, it smelled like the forests back home. Looking around, she took in the soldiers, three other medical staff and some of Colonel Sheppard's gate team adjusting weapons, reading scanners and milling around for their orders.

Jennifer arrived on Atlantis two weeks before and immediately had to deal with several bomb explosions. Her boss, Doctor Carson Beckett, was almost killed during a hand-off with one of the explosives experts from the Corp. The Marine was killed and Doctor Beckett had ringing in his ears for a week. It was rather humorous to yell at the Scotsman for several days.

Doctor Beckett was kind, friendly and very welcoming, which was something she was not used to. As a young doctor, older physicians often resented her because she completed medical school and two PhDs by the time she was twenty-five. The lack of respect she received was a cross she had to bear, but she had a strong family to turn to during her difficult medical and graduate school years.

Her Dad relocated from Chippewa Falls to Lexington, Massachusetts to be with the frightened fifteen-year-old when she started Harvard Medical School. Once she entered her second PhD program at MIT, she made him move back home to Chippewa Falls because she knew he was never happy in New England. She also had regular visits from her uncle, who lived in DC.

"Doctor… Keller, is it?" The handsome Major Lorne said approaching her.

"Yes, what can I do for you, Major?" She asked. Major Evan Lorne was a veteran of over ten years with the SGC. He had given her and the other new recruits a tour of the military areas of the base. _Odd, the second-in-command of the military was touring the newbie's. He must've gotten into trouble recently._

"Just wanted to make sure you're okay. I know it was your first time through the Stargate," he said with a smile, which brought out adorable dimples on his cheeks.

"I will admit being de-molecularized is disconcerting, but it's been explained to me by people I trust, so I wasn't too concerned," Jennifer said smiling.

"We're ready to go, sir," said a large Marine with graying hair around his temples. He was Master Gunnery Sergeant Dwayne Richards and he was a legend around the SGC. Jennifer knew if anything went to hell while on a mission to stay near him.

When his grey eyes connected with hers, she smiled. The big man nodded back and smiled briefly, which caused the Major to raise an eyebrow.

"Do you know the Gunny?" He asked with awe in his voice.

"No, I've never met him before, but he is legendary," Jennifer said as she stepped over to Tony Meeks, Billy Taylor and Pran Patel, the medical staff members who accompanied her.

* * *

The medical team had several packs full of vaccines to administer to the villagers of M89-706. There had been a disruption in their transmissions to and from Atlantis, so Doctor Weir sent SGA1 and a group of Marines led by Major Lorne to investigate. It seemed like overkill to Jennifer, but she had read enough SGC logs from the Milky Way and Pegasus gate teams to know anything can happen off world.

Sitting down on a rock and getting a water bottle out of her pack for a quick drink, she looked more closely around her. Colonel Sheppard's team with Major Lorne stood separate from the Marines and discussed something obviously humorous to them.

Jennifer had been told all about the arrogant, obnoxious astrophysicist, Rodney Mckay. She would have dismissed him entirely if not for the fact that she read his papers on wormhole physics and Stargates and recognized him as being a genius like her._ We're always misunderstood, so I'll reserve my judgment until I work with him. _

_He's also cute_, Jennifer thought now that she could watch him closely. His bright blue eyes and expressive face could be read like the proverbial open book. After dealing with so many _fake_ people over the years, it was refreshing to meet someone who did not care about putting on a face for everyone to see. _Doctor McKay lets everyone see his flaws and doesn't care what they think about him._ Jennifer wished she could be that confident, but she _did_ care. Deep down where no one saw and no one outside her family ever reached, the lonely genius longed to have close friends. _Your family has to love you, but friends choose to love you. Maybe some day, I'll find some real ones._

"All right people," Colonel Sheppard said turning to face everyone and describing the mission to deliver vaccines and check on the transmitter.

Jennifer pulled a dark cap out of her pack and pulled it over her head. It was a gift from her uncle before she left. Tucking her golden hair underneath of it, she donned her pack and stood with the other medical staff and a couple of Marines, Sergeant Roberts and Lieutenant Dixon. They smiled at her as she stood next to them. The feel of their eyes roving over her figure encased in the tight black uniform she was issued infuriated her. _Great, I'm just another piece of ass to them, like med school all over again. _

Shaking her head in disgust, she glanced around and her eyes connected with Gunny Richards, who then glared at the younger men and walked toward them. _So he is a gentleman, like I heard._

"The settlement is four miles from here and we need to hike through the forest," Sheppard continued as he glanced around the clearing as if he was looking for something. "I'd like all the… medical staff to… stay in the center with Dixon and Roberts."

A puzzled look was on the Colonel's face and Major Lorne finally asked, "Is something wrong, sir?"

"No… Yes," Sheppard looked at McKay to his left and Ronon, who was leaning against a tree looking bored. Teyla, the Athosian leader, was recovering from her injury suffered during the explosion two weeks ago and was not with them. "Did we lose someone, Major?"

"No, sir," Lorne said glancing around the clearing. "Everyone is here."

"Oh, I thought that… new doctor was with us," John said as he glanced at the four medical staff members in front of him and then back to Lorne.

"They're all _new_, sir," the Major raised his eyebrows.

_Wonder what's up with the Colonel? Probably wanted Anita Alvarez to be here, she's a real beauty._ Jennifer adjusted her pack; once her scanner with laptop, basic medical supplies and extra survival supplies were placed in the black bag, it weighed up to twenty pounds. In preparation for her journey to Atlantis, she ran daily with a twenty-pound pack. _Don't want to be the weak link on a mission._

"Carson sent us _all_ new doctors?" The big Satedan finally moved and spoke. The fact that he spoke like she and the others could not hear him made her mad.

"Hey," McKay said as he adjusted his scanner. "You know, I'm not reading much of anything around here. We should get a reading from the power supply we left here to run their communications equipment, but I got nothing."

"Are you sure you're reading it right?" Sheppard said as his eyes flashed over her face for a moment.

"I think I know how to read a scanner, Sheppard?" Rodney barked at him and turned to aim it toward the mountains in the distance.

Sergeant Warrington returned and reported he found no sign of the villagers at their lookout. They kept it about a half a mile away from the gate, where they could see the gate dial according to the report Jennifer studied at breakfast about these people.

"All right, we'll move out and stay in formation. Who's the leader of the medical team?" Sheppard asked.

"I am," Jennifer said as she stepped forward. Gunny Richards, who had glared at the other men causing them to back away from the young doctor, stood nearby. "I'm Doctor Jennifer Keller."

The physician had not met any of the members of Colonel Sheppard's team formally. They were all in the infirmary during the explosions and afterward to visit Teyla. Carson hovered over the Athosian and interacted with the team the entire time. They were all a family and Jennifer had to admit she felt like she was on the outside looking in.

"Oh, I… It's nice to meet you," Colonel Sheppard said looking over her face and glancing at her figure as well. "Of course, I didn't recognize you."

"You mean the only thing you noticed about the new doc was her blond hair. Since I put it under the hat, so my head doesn't stand out to give away our position in the woods, you couldn't figure out who I was," Jennifer said in a matter-of-fact voice that caused all the men gathered around to have their jaws drop, except for Ronon. "I realize I'm just a young blond to most of you, but I had expected a little more from the Head of Atlantis's military. I _had_ heard some good things about you."

Jennifer had been pissed at the other Marines for checking her out so obviously and now that the Colonel lost track of her because she hid her hair, caused her to let her anger at being viewed as an object out. Catching Rodney McKay's raised eyebrows and saucer-sized eyes behind the Colonel caused Jennifer to smile a little.

"No… Ah… I didn't mean…Um… You're not _just_ a blond… I mean to say…" Sheppard stammered and glanced at his teammates for help. Ronon was already heading up the trail and McKay looked stunned and then like he was going to laugh.

"Take it easy, Colonel," Jennifer said. "I'm not mad at you. Just disappointed."

The physician turned and headed back to the medical staff and Gunny Richards, who now seemed to be shadowing her.

* * *

**A/N For my regular readers, I know, I know, I have a story to finish, but these new ideas just keep coming.**


	2. Introductions

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: I'll take no reviews as a sign the story is boring, so far. Trying not to put out massive chapters, but that makes things slower to build up. Let me know if it's worth continuing. If not, I can finish other stuff. Thanks.  
**

* * *

After walking about an hour, Jennifer heard groaning from behind her and turned to see Doctor Billy Taylor hobbling to a log to sit down. Sergeant Warrington, a large man from Bermuda, who Jennifer took care of in the infirmary last week for a bruise after sparing with Ronon, called to Gunny Richards to halt. Jennifer walked over as Pran and Tony looked at the other doctor. Doctor Taylor was clutching his foot.

"Are you wearing new boots?" Jennifer asked as she dropped her pack and kneeled in front of the older doctor.

"So?" He said with obvious disdain in his voice. Jennifer had overheard them talking about how she must _know_ someone to be sent to Pegasus. _No way a kid has done all the stuff they say she did. By her looks, she must have got here another way. _Ignoring her anger, she put on her doctor face and tried to treat help him.

Everyone had fallen in around them. Gunny Richards was standing to her immediate right with Sheppard, McKay, Lorne and Ronon on her left with the other doctors.

"What's going on?" Major Lorne asked as he stepped next to Taylor.

"His feet are blistering," Jennifer said.

"How do you know that? You didn't even take his shoe off," Pran said sounding annoyed.

"If he's wearing new boots, he'll have blisters after hiking for a couple hours," Jennifer explained. "Do you need help getting them off?"

"I can do it," Billy said angrily.

Jennifer turned to take bandages and tape out of her pack. She looked up at the men standing around her. _This is my fault. I should have made sure the people traveling with me were prepared. _"I'm sorry, but you'll have to go back."

"I will not," Taylor said as he grimaced trying to pull his boot off.

"Let me help," Jennifer offered, taking his foot in her hand. She loosened his laces and slid the boot off his foot with little discomfort to him. "You won't be able to walk a couple more miles, walk around the village all day and walk back to the gate. It's better if you go back now. We'll take your vaccines. Doctor Patel, can you take the vaccines from Doctor Taylor and put them in our packs?"

"There's a technician here, he can do it," Pran said crossing his arms and staring at the skinny, young man named Tony Meeks, who pulled off his pack.

"This isn't graduate school. If something needs to be done, you do it," Jennifer said with anger in her voice. The arrogant physician had treated her horribly since her arrival. He was supposed to show her how to use the scanners and did not even show up. Jennifer had to use what Ancient she had learned to read the instructions, so she could prepare for patients. _Based on what they said about me behind my back, it must kill them that Carson told me to be in charge of this expedition's medical contingent._

"Well, you're pretty good at giving out orders, Doctor Keller," Patel snarled.

"Enough!" Colonel Sheppard yelled. "Doctor Keller's absolutely right. We can't have someone with a bad foot slowing us down. Major, send two Marines back with the doctor. We'll break for twenty and then move on."

The other doctors glared at Jennifer as she helped Taylor remove his other boot and his socks. She put some cream on the blisters on his foot. _What an idiot._

"See, McKay," Sheppard could be heard saying behind Jennifer as she tended to Doctor Taylor. "That's why we never let you wear new boots on away missions."

"I'm sorry, Colonel," Jennifer said as she stood and turned to face Sheppard, McKay, Lorne and Ronon. "I should have made sure everyone was ready to go."

"It's not your fault, Doc," John said smiling. "You caught it and now he'll go back. Oh, Um… Listen… About before…"

"Don't worry about it, Colonel," Jennifer said and walked away.

Jennifer grabbed her pack and settled down for a snack. Looking around she saw the medical personnel taking items from Taylor's pack. The young doctor took two power bars and bottles of water from her pack and gave the bag to Tony Meeks.

* * *

The girl from Chippewa Falls glanced over at the _Great_ Doctor McKay, who was fiddling with his scanner. She had heard him say repeatedly that he could not get any signals. A thought crossed her mind causing her to jump up and go back to her pack. Withdrawing her laptop with scanner from it, she walked over to the rocks where Rodney McKay sat absorbed in his work.

"Hello," she said cautiously. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Jennifer Keller."

"Huh," Rodney looked up and she was rewarded with a direct gaze from his brilliant blue eyes. "Oh, McKay. Rodney McKay."

"I know and I'm sorry to disturb you, but I make a point of reviewing the medical files of anyone I'll be working with," Jennifer said cautiously hoping not to sound like she was nosy, "and I noticed you have hypoglycemia. I also haven't seen you eat anything recently, so I wanted to see if you wanted a power bar?"

Rodney looked from his screen to her eyes then to the bars in her hands. His eyes widened and a smile spread over his lips making him even more handsome. "You're a life saver. Peanut butter power bars? Those never make it off the Daedalus."

"Shhh! My uncle set me up with them. They're my favorite, too," Jennifer said smiling and sitting next to the physicist. _So far he seems fine. Always good to open with food._

Rodney grabbed the bar from her and ripped it open. She handed him a water bottle and he grinned even more. "Boy, you really come prepared. Were you a Girl Scout or something?"

"I have a Dad and an Uncle who wanted me to know how to take care of myself, so I know about a lot of things," Jennifer said trying not to sound arrogant.

"I know a great deal about a lot of things, too," Rodney said sounding extremely arrogant, as he suddenly looked away from her.

Jennifer followed his eyes to Colonel Sheppard, Major Lorne and Ronon, who were laughing as they looked at them. "So you think they're betting how long it takes for me to slap you?"

"What?" Rodney said between a mouthful of bar and drink of water.

"Just kidding. You're not such an ogre, so far." She could not help but tease him. Based on everything she had seen and heard this morning, it was obvious his team really cared about him. They also seemed to look for things to harass him about and he gave them plenty of ammunition. _I'm sure this won't help. _

"Been talking to Sheppard much," Rodney said as he finished his bar and settled back to his computer. It was a dismissal, but Jennifer felt drawn to him for some reason.

"No. This was the first time I ever spoke to him," Jennifer said.

"Well, I don't think he'll forget you," Rodney said with a grin.

"Sorry. The Marines have been checking me out all morning, the other doctors think I slept my way to my current position and your boss can't remember me without seeing my hair color," Jennifer complained. "Not a great first away mission."

"That's awful!" Rodney said sounding truly upset.

"I'm used to it. I went to med school at fifteen," she said eating some of her bar.

"Fifteen? I went to college at fifteen," McKay said smiling as their eyes met and then looked away again.

"I'm sure you had a better time than me. Male geniuses are a dime a dozen, female geniuses are in short supply," Jennifer said smiling and drinking. She noticed all the men glancing at her and the physicist.

"Yeah, not many female geniuses here. I got one in my department…"

"I know. Miko. We met when Doctor Zelenka toured us through the lab. Somehow she found out another female genius was coming, so she introduced herself." Jennifer smiled because the Japanese woman had been very excited to meet her.

"She handles all that administrative stuff, I have no idea I'm supposed to do," Rodney said as he continued to pluck away at his computer.

"Doctor McKay, I couldn't help but notice," Jennifer said, "that you seem to having some problems with the scanner."

"Rodney, please," he said looking up and then turned bright red. "I…Ah… I mean if you want… I…"

"You can call me Jennifer," she said cutting him off. "I wonder if you wanted to try my scanner. I'm sure you can reset it to work for you. Just to rule out a problem with your equipment."

"Huh. Sure." Rodney took the scanner she offered. "There shouldn't be anything wrong with mine, but it'll be nice to know for certain."

"Of course," Jennifer smiled.

* * *

As she sat eating her power bar and drinking, she felt like someone else was watching her. Looking around at the men, she saw Gunny Richards stare off into the forest as if his eyes could pierce the trees. Having an odd feeling go through her stomach and a chill go down her spine, Jennifer looked into the forest as well. Everyone seemed to be resting or snacking, so she dismissed the sensation as nerves and trusted that the veteran soldier would notify them of danger.

Jennifer glanced back at Rodney. "What did you find with my scanner?"

"Nothing," Rodney said. "Absolutely nothing."

"Shouldn't you see the Marines and Doctor Taylor? They just left," Jennifer asked with eyebrows raised. Rodney looked into her eyes with fear on his face.

"I should," Rodney said swallowing hard.

**TBC**


	3. First Attack

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. My betas are on holiday or dealing with hurricanes on the East Coast so all mistakes are mine.**

* * *

Jennifer followed Rodney over to Lorne, Sheppard and Ronon. Gunny Richards followed along and Jennifer caught his eye. "Did you see something?"

"No," Richards said, as he stood close by.

Jennifer realized he was nearby a lot and suddenly had a suspicion about him. "Have we ever met before, Gunny?"

"No, Doctor Keller," he said looking at her. The direct gaze from his grey eyes only added to her suspicion.

"You seem… _familiar_," she said stressing the last word, trying to tell him she _knew_ exactly what he was doing.

"I get that a lot," the big man said.

_I doubt that_, Jennifer thought as she chuckled. _Standing around six-foot-two with broad shoulders like the big Satedan and piercing grey eyes, you don't look like just anyone._

"Why the hell didn't you notice this before, McKay?" Sheppard shouted, pulling Jennifer out of her thoughts about the Sergeant.

"Because I thought the calibration was off on my computer and I was trying to fix it," Rodney explained waving his hand and the scanner around.

"And now?" John said.

"Jennifer gave me her scanner and once I set it up, I got the same interference," Rodney explained in his usual angry tone.

"Jennifer?" John said with raised eyebrow finally looking at the physician.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Oh, no… I just questioned why McKay called you _Jennifer_," John said glancing at her and then at his scientist.

"Could it be something as simple as a solar flare or some atmospheric interference?" Jennifer asked Rodney ignoring Sheppard's innuendo.

"What? Maybe. If we could have brought a jumper…" Rodney started to be cut off by Sheppard.

"I thought you were a medical doctor?" John said staring at Jennifer.

For some unknown reason, Jennifer felt like taking all her annoyance with her treatment by the doctors and Marines out on the handsome Colonel. "So, I'm not capable of knowing about anything but medicine?"

"No. That's not what I mean. Hey, has anyone ever told you that you're way too defensive?" John said.

"Has anyone ever told you that you _assume_ a lot of things without getting the facts first?" Jennifer shot back.

"You, know Sheppard, she's got a point," Rodney said only to get an angry look from his team leader.

"Why don't you and your new _sidekick_ figure out what the hell is going on…" Sheppard never got to finish his statement because a shriek unlike anything Jennifer ever heard echoed through the forest.

Jennifer and Richards simultaneously looked at the tree line to the left of their position. A black blur leaped out, crashing into a screaming Tony Meeks and then disappeared into the brush _with_ the medical technician.

Chaos ensued for a moment. Doctor Patel and Rodney screamed. Ronon, Lorne and Sheppard had their guns up and moved around the clearing. The other three Marines looked around, too. Sergeant Richards suddenly ran off down the trail through the trees and brush after the… _creature_. There really wasn't anything else to call it at the moment. Jennifer saw something black, moving on four legs and extremely powerful, leap through the air, grab a man and drag him into the woods faster than she could blink.

Without any thought for herself, Jennifer scooped up a med pack and charged after the Gunny. _Tony's out there bleeding._ Getting to the man she was responsible for and remaining with the one man she was told to seek out if something went wrong was all she thought.

* * *

The branches tugged at her jacket, her hair, which was loose after her hat fell off, and scratched her face, but she kept running as fast as she could. Her breathing and pounding heart were the only sounds she could hear. The only way she knew she was headed in the right direction was by the frequent smears of blood on the ground.

Jennifer stopped suddenly and felt her power bar come up her throat. It was the fact that she watched disgusting movies with her dad and uncle growing up that she was able to swallow her snack and the bile that came up with. The sight of Tony Meeks convulsing on the ground with blood leaking from large holes on his abdomen and cuts across his chest and throat returned the doctor to reality. _There is nothing I can do for him_. The amount of blood and the amount of tearing of flesh and bone was extensive.

Without thinking, she knelt beside him and took one of his flailing hands. It was covered in blood making it slick and sticky to hold. The young man, barely a year older than her stared into her eyes, tears filled his and their focus faded. A gurgle and some blood flowed from his mouth.

"I'll tell your family what a brave man you are," Jennifer said. The sounds of Richards pacing around and Meeks' rattling breaths were the only sounds she heard. As the brown eyes she was looking into lost more of their focus, she began to recite the Lord's Prayer. It came to her automatically when she was with a dying person ever since her father and she recited it with her mother years ago.

The sound of her voice or the words, she did not know which, caused Tony to turn his head toward her and he squeezed her hand. She spoke a little louder as she became aware of a shadow being cast over her. No sounds could be heard except her speaking and the wheezing of the dying man before her.

Before she finished the prayer, Tony Meeks was dead. Sounds of other running feet and brush and branches being pushed aside replaced the sound of her voice and the labored breathing. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she was shocked to realize Rodney knelt next to her.

After gagging a couple times, he finally managed to speak to her. His blue eyes were wide with fear and some other emotion she could not place. _It looks like concern, but he's supposed to be heartless._

"There's nothing you can do. He's gone," his shaking voice said. His hand on her shoulder was shaking and he took her other shoulder to pull her gently but firmly up and away for the dead medical technician. "You're bleeding. Come on, I'll help you."

"It's not my blood," Jennifer heard her voice but had no thoughts in her head at the moment except, _how do I tell his family how he died without telling them the truth?_

"No, it's yours. You cut your cheek on something. Probably a branch," Rodney said as he moved her away from the body and sat her on the ground with her back to the carnage.

"Doctor Patel…" Jennifer started. _Rodney's a physicist, the Head of Science on Atlantis; he shouldn't be worrying about a cut on my face._

"Is crying, so he won't be much help," Rodney said angrily. He reached behind her and grabbed her pack.

"What the hell were you thinking!" Sheppard screamed as he came into the clearing and headed straight for her only to be brought up short by Gunny Richards stepping between them.

"The boy's dead," the older man said as if that would end the discussion of her stupidity._ Sheppard was right, I never should have run into the woods after some monster._

"He's right, Gunny," Jennifer said with a shaky voice. As the adrenaline high wore off, she began to shake and her vision was blurring. A ringing was getting louder in her ears. _I will not pass out. I will not pass out_, became a mantra.

"Damn right, I'm right," Sheppard said as Richards motioned for him to step back while Rodney took care of Jennifer's injury. Lorne, Ronon and another Marine arrived in the clearing. The soldiers walked toward the body behind Jennifer and Rodney while Ronon stalked around looking for something to shoot with his powerful gun.

The feel of Rodney's hands on her face snapped her out of her observations. They were incredibly warm and surprisingly gentle as one hand cupped her chin and tilted her head so his intense blue eyes could survey the cut on her right cheek. Taking a piece of gauze he must have wet while she tried not to pass out, he gently dabbed at the cut. It stung, which caused her to flinch.

"Sorry. I know this hurts because it always does when Carson does it to me," he said gently.

"It... It's fine," Jennifer said barely more than a whisper._ Is this the man I was warned about? He doesn't act anything like I was told he would. He's really… sweet._ Jennifer felt a different feeling in her stomach from the nausea of several minutes ago. _Butterflies? I just witnessed the most horrific injuries I've ever seen and held the hand of a colleague I barely knew as he died and now I've got butterflies like a teenager with a crush. Pathetic._

"Is she going to live, _Doctor_ McKay?" John barked at them on the ground.

"Do you mind? She's injured. You might want to show some compassion. Just because she'd not fawning all over you like most women is no reason not to be nice to her," Rodney yelled.

Jennifer's eyebrows shot up her forehead and she saw the Colonel have the same reaction out of the corner of her eyes. _Rodney's defending me? Someone was feeding me bad information about him on purpose. I wonder why?_

As Jennifer enjoyed the feeling of having someone else show concern for her, the reality of what happened settled back over her. _Some **thing**__ just tore Tony Meeks apart, right in front of us._

Shifting to face the Colonel, she said, "Do you think there are more of those things? Could they have done something to the villagers? And what about Doctor Taylor and the Marines escorting him to the gate?"

Silence permeated the clearing except for the sound of a zipper being closed on the body bag. Everyone thought the same thing, but Jennifer was the only one who said it. Her concerned brown eyes connected with Rodney's blues as he dropped his hands from her face. _So much for an easy first mission in Pegasus, looks like my uncle is not the only one in the family that attracts trouble._

**TBC**

**

* * *

A/N: Have not tried my hand at a scary story. Let's see how it goes. **


	4. Never Split Up When Monsters are Near

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback. I'll see if I can keep up the suspense. ****Please let me know if this is scary since I'm trying something new.**

* * *

Rodney finished putting some cream on Jennifer's cheek as Sheppard and Lorne checked their life signs detectors. By the looks on their faces, they got nothing.

"Okay, we need to find out what happened to Dixon, Neil and Doctor Taylor and get word back to Atlantis," Sheppard explained.

"We also need to check on the villagers," Jennifer said as Rodney helped her up. Smiling and speaking softly to him, she said, "Thank you, _Doctor_."

He smiled back and turned slightly red. "No problem."

"Roberts and Warrington, take care of Mister Meeks. Lorne, get back to Atlantis and bring in a full team," Sheppard said to his 2IC. "Doctors Patel and Keller, you'll accompany them back to the gate."

"No way," Jennifer said crossing her arms and glaring at the Colonel. "The number one rule in _unknown monster scenarios_ is never split up."

"I realize that, but we need to find out what happened to the villagers," Sheppard said. "I'm taking Richards, Wagner and my team to the settlement."

"Then I'm going too," Jennifer stated resolutely.

"No way," Sheppard growled. He stepped close to her trying to intimidate her with his height over her petite frame.

"People could be injured. If you're going on, I owe it to those people to accompany you." Jennifer stood at full height and stared into angry hazel eyes. "If someone can spare a sidearm for me, I'll be ready to go right now."

"Jennifer, you really shouldn't…" Rodney started.

"You're not returning," Jennifer said as she caught his blue eyes, which were getting angry.

"I've been on a gate team for years," Rodney said as he too drew himself to his full height.

"I've been shooting since I was seven. I've fired plenty of guns in my lifetime," Jennifer explained. "I can handle myself."

"Major Lorne, has Doctor Keller checked out on any weapons on Atlantis?" John said glaring at her and speaking to the Major.

"Not yet, sir," Lorne said as he came to stand near them. Gunny Richards stood to her immediate left and remained silent during the discussion.

"I want you to explain to my family, _in person_ Colonel, that the reason some creature tore me to pieces was because I didn't sign a form giving me a firearm on Atlantis to defend myself," Jennifer spat, as she clenched her fists. _This is ridiculous._

"Has anyone ever told you that you are the biggest pain-in-the-ass _ever_?" Richards' deep baritone said from her left.

"I strive to be the _best_ at whatever I do, Gunny," Jennifer said looking at him as he handed his P90 to her and then put his right foot onto a rock nearby exposing a 9mil in a boot holster. _If he's here for what I think he's here for, he can't let me out of his sight._

"Take this," Gunny said handing the gun to her and then he looked at his CO. "I'll take responsibility for the Doctor's safety, sir."

"Well that's really _sweet_, Gunny, but she's going back," Sheppard said with finality in his voice.

* * *

An hour later, Jennifer, Ronon, Rodney, John and Sergeants Richards and Wagner crested a hill overlooking the settlement. It was past mid-day by the location of the sun and the village looked deserted. No people or children were in the fields outside of the town or on the streets. The building with the communications tower rising out of it sat on the opposite hill from where they stood and looked intact.

Jennifer pulled her water bottle out of her pack for a quick drink. She kept her eyes on the terrain in front of her and her mouth shut. Colonel Sheppard, Ronon and, even Rodney, were pissed that she was with them. After Sheppard made his edict, Gunny pulled him aside and obviously revealed something to the Colonel that caused him to stare at her with big eyes. She knew Richards would never reveal the truth about her, but he probably told the Colonel that he was told to watch out for her by someone higher up the chain of command. Gunny Richards was too important to send back to the gate to call in the cavalry, so she had to go where he went.

Normally, Jennifer would be furious with her Uncle for his meddling, but that creature scared her and having Gunny Richards close by calmed her.

_No sign of it since it killed Meeks. That's weird._ Jennifer glanced down at the blood on her pants and sighed in relief that the smell of the dried blood did not draw the creature to her. Once they got to the village, she was going to change into the extra clothing in her pack. Since they were no longer vaccinating anyone, the vaccines were removed and extra food, water and supplies were put in her pack. After arguing with Richards that she was capable of carrying a twenty-pound pack, she was left with all the supplies except for the ammunition.

"I need to check the communications building," Rodney said breaking the silence.

"Richards, Wagner and Keller, go with Doctor McKay," John said practically spitting when he said Jennifer's name and shooting her a look that said _better stay out of trouble_.

"Yes, sir," Richards said and moved off to take point with Jennifer and Rodney behind him and Wagner in the rear.

They set off directly across the field, which was full of thigh-high grains. Jennifer grew up in farm country and knew that these plants should have been cut weeks ago.

"I don't think they've been here for a while," Jennifer said quietly.

"Why would you say that?" Rodney asked looking at her. It appeared he was not angry that she was with them any longer.

"Well, I grew up in farm country in Wisconsin and this grass looks like wheat. It should have been cut by now. The grains are starting to fall off the shafts," Jennifer explained as she pulled the top off a plant as they walked by, shook it and caused the grains to fall off.

"They're supposed to check in every month, but they miss them all the time. When Elizabeth called us about the mission, she said they missed their call last month and then this month. They'd never done two in a row before," Rodney explained looking with trepidation at the silent, still village that Ronon and Sheppard were finally entering.

* * *

Jennifer and the men climbed up the small hill to the communications building, which sat nestled against the forest. A large metal tower rose up next to the building to help boost the signal. Richards nodded to Wagner, who took up a position to the right of the door with his P90 aimed at the doorway. Gunny then motioned for Jennifer and Rodney to move behind him on the left side of the door. Jennifer drew out her handgun from the holster Rodney had given her, as the Head of Science lifted his P90 into his hands.

_I guess Richards isn't taking any chances_, Jennifer thought. She felt Rodney's shoulder brushing against hers. Glancing up, she noticed he had a look of fear on his face, but was staring at the doorway as Gunny prepared to open the door.

Jennifer swallowed and looked at Richard's back, which was directly in front of her blocking her view of the door. Rodney stood immediately to her right, so both men and the wall basically caged her in. Taking a deep breath, Jennifer gripped the Beretta with both hands and tried to calm her racing heart in case she had to shoot.

Richards turned the doorknob and then kicked the door as he lifted his P90 into firing position and flicked on the light. Nothing jumped out at them and no sounds were heard except the door bouncing off the wall.

After Richards disappeared into the building, Rodney took up his position in front of Jennifer. She could not hold in the smile that formed on her lips at the thought that the physicist was trying to protect her._ I'm really glad I decided to share my power bars with him._

"Clear," Richards yelled from inside the house.

"Go on," Wagner said as he stepped away from the side of the building and motioned for Jennifer and Rodney to enter.

Jennifer nodded to the young German soldier and walked between him and Rodney to enter. The inside was dark. It appeared as if someone left in a hurry because a chair was lying on its side.

"Looks like they left suddenly," Rodney said stating the obvious.

Richards was looking into a cup on the desk when a sound from outside caused all of them to look toward the door. Wagner had spun around facing away from the building with his weapon raised. The older Sergeant moved around the desk and headed for the door when a horrible sound echoed from outside the building.

Rodney raised his weapon pointing it at a window to the right of them.

"Get inside!" Richards yelled but it was too late. Something black and snarling smashed into the young man outside, knocking him away from the open door.

Richards kicked the door closed and yelled at Rodney and Jennifer. "Get together in the middle of the room. Stay away from the windows."

Richards shoved a cabinet in front of the door. Jennifer moved so her back was pressed against Rodney's. There were three windows in the building, one on the back wall and to the right and left of them. Her eyes flashed between the two windows she could see as she felt her heart race and a shudder go through her body.

"What the hell!" Rodney yelled as she felt a shudder pass thought the physicist as well.

"Quiet!" Richards was prowling around the two of them staying away from the windows, but still looking closely outside.

"The radios don't work do they," Jennifer asked quietly of Rodney as she waved her shaking gun between the two windows.

"Of course not. Whatever's interfering with scanners is interfering with all frequencies for radios, too," Rodney said angrily.

"I said, _Quiet_!" Richards barked as they suddenly heard that sound again from outside the front door.

Jennifer and Rodney turned to face the front door with their weapons raised. Richards stood behind them with his back facing them and his weapon facing the window on the back wall.

Jennifer swallowed and waited for something to come crashing through the front door. She saw the P90 next to her shaking and ventured a quick glance at Rodney's face.

The physicist was trying to stay calm, but his rapid breathing, the perspiration on his face and his wide-open eyes conveyed to her that he was losing the battle he was fighting against the rising panic.

"Deep breaths, Doc, and aim for the head," Richards said calmly from behind the two geniuses as a sound of something scraping against the outside wall in front of them echoed through the small building.

Gunfire could be heard from the village in the distance. _Looks like there are more than one of these things after all._

**

* * *

A/N: I was going to leave the identity of Jennifer's **_**uncle**_** for much later in the story, but I couldn't get Sheppard to let her go without some intervention by Richards. I think most folks can figure it out. This is an AU, so anything can happen.  
**


	5. Second Attack

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback. I get the feeling this could take on a life of it's own. Thanks dwparsnip.  
**

* * *

Jennifer swallowed and tried to focus her attention on the door and her grip on the gun she was pointing towards it. _Safety off? Check. Aiming at door? Check._ The sound of something scraping on the stone façade of the building caused the hair on her neck to stand and a shudder to pass through her. _Claws? Must be, based on the gashes on Meeks' body._

The heavy breathing from Rodney to her right caused her to be concerned for him. _If he has a panic attack or hyperventilates, I'm not going to be able to take care of him._ Risking a quick glance, she managed to nudge him with her shoulder. His blue eyes, which were flashing between the door and the window to his right, connected with hers for a moment. She forced a smile on her face and it seemed as if it calmed him a little because he nodded, re-gripped his gun, stood a little taller and took deeper breaths.

That is when the attack came, but not at the front door. The legendary instincts of Gunny Richards showed their value once again when the creature attacked the rear window. Jennifer and Rodney spun around.

"Front door!" Richards yelled as he began firing at the long arms with claws where fingers should be that smashed through the rear window. The creature's head was black and really did look like something out of _Aliens_ with protruding fangs. Things happened quickly; she did not know how she reacted so fast, but Jennifer took aim with her Beretta and got off a couple of shots.

When Richards yelled for them to cover the front door, Rodney had turned back. Jennifer swiveled on her right leg between the rear window, where the creature withdrew after Richards and she got a few bullets into it, to the front door, which stood untouched.

"Do you…" Rodney started. His voice was barely recognizable; it was full of fear.

"Quiet!" Richards hissed. The SGC veteran soldier adjusted his gun and glanced at the smaller windows on either side of them.

No sounds could be heard from outside the building, but Jennifer knew that did not mean the creature had left. _It moves really fast. One moment it was scratching the front wall and the next it got behind us. Unless…_

Jennifer could not finish her thoughts because something did crash into the front door causing it to bang against the cabinet Gunny had flipped on its side to block the door. Rodney opened up with the P90 sending a hail of bullets through the wooden door.

Another creature attacked the back window as well. Gunny opened fire on it. The sounds of the two P90s were pounding through the physician's head along with shrieking from the creatures. She turned and shot at the creature attacking the back window and then turned back to help Rodney. Unfortunately, her clip had emptied. Releasing the empty one onto the floor and pulling a spare from her pocket, she noticed her hands were surprisingly still. _I should be shaking. How weird?_

Both P90s stopped firing, drawing Jennifer out of her confusion over the fact that her body was not trembling in terror like she expected. Silence surrounded them as she got her Beretta ready as she swiveled between the two locations.

Her heavy breathing and Rodney's were the only sounds in the small building. Richards was quiet. Jennifer kept looking at the windows surrounding them.

"Doctor Keller," Richards said quietly.

"Gunny?" She replied just as quietly.

"I want you to take all the excess stuff out of Doctor McKay's pack and put it in yours. Then give me the pack," Gunny explained.

"Why?" Rodney asked with shaky voice.

Jennifer took a moment to reach out and squeeze his upper arm, smiling at him, as she reached into his special computer pack to remove his laptop. She removed her pack and then slid his computer into it.

"I need you and Doctor Keller to travel as light as possible," Richards said as he continued to survey the rear and side windows. He did step away from the two doctors and began to look from side-to-side moving his head, whereas before he had only shifted his eyes. _It appears as if he's relaxing._

"Why?" McKay asked again as his natural over-reactive nature took over strengthening his voice.

"So you can run faster without the extra weight," Richards said in his usual matter-of-fact style.

"Are you insane!" Rodney turned and yelled at the back of the Sergeant's head. "Those things are out there!"

It was obvious to Jennifer that Rodney was losing focus and was going to endanger them if she did not find a way to calm him down. She wanted to run screaming back to Atlantis and never step through a Stargate again after all this was over, but she knew people relied on her medical knowledge and she could _not_ lose it. _Apparently, Doctor McKay did not realize or remember how important he is as well. _Since her arrival on Atlantis, everyone she met spoke grudgingly about how he always _saved the day_.

"I don't think they counted on us being so much of a problem and doubt they're going to attack the building again, at least not until nighttime," Richards explained calmly, obviously used to dealing with the hysterical physicist. "And the sun _is_ setting, Doctor McKay. We need to move out soon."

"Great! A buffet dinner served on the run!" McKay had released his gun, so it hung from the clip on his vest. His hands began to flail around and shake.

Without thinking, Jennifer bunched up Rodney's tack vest in each hand and pulled him close to her. "You need to relax!" She said looking directly into his incredible blue eyes.

"Do you realize what'll happen to us out there? Those things will attack us!" Rodney's eyes were full of panic.

"_Or_ we scared them off by shooting back and not falling for their tactics," she said as she held on tight to his vest.

"Tactics! They're monsters! Animals!" Rodney continued to scream. He brought his hands up to hold onto Jennifer's. It seemed like he wanted to pull them off, but paused.

The feeling of his warm hands covering hers, which were always cold, caused those butterflies to form in her stomach again. _I need to get him focused and calmed down._

"They coordinated their attack on the front and back of the building," Richards said as he took a moment to grab Jennifer's pack off the floor.

"Well you _go_ get Sheppard and Ronon and we'll wait here," Rodney said looking over Jennifer's head at the Sergeant. He still did not release her hands. "I'm not going anywhere."

Jennifer Keller had never been forward with the men she was interested in. Her father and uncle were extremely protective of her, so she never dated much. Since she was a child thrust into medical school, she shied away from relationships during her med school days. Once she entered her second PhD, there were _boys_ her age around, but she did not want a _boy_. At the SGC, handsome men surrounded her, but only saw her as a blond and not much more, so she ignored them.

"Rodney, we will be safer in the village. There are more buildings and we need to find out what happened to the Colonel and Ronon," Jennifer said calmly. His eyes flicked from her to the smashed window and back again.

"I… I… I can't," he said in a low voice as his shoulders sagged and his eyes looked down at the floor.

Jennifer leaned up and pressed her lips to his. She had no idea that she was going to kiss him until she did it. He looked like a scared little boy and it just tore at her heart. _After our brief time together, this confident, arrogant man can admit to me that he's scared._ It was the sweetest thing that ever happened to the young woman.

As quickly as she kissed him, she pulled back. Her stomach was roiling and her breathing increased, but none of it had to do with monsters. "Rodney, you need to focus. I'm sure you can run really fast since you don't want to get eaten."

"All I can focus on is that I want you to do _that_ again," the physicist said with a breathless voice as a flush spread over his face and his eyes stared into her own.

"We need to move out," Richards said from behind them as if nothing had happened between the two civilians in his care.

**

* * *

A/N: I'm still DaniWilder. Gotta have some McKeller fluff in here!!!  
**


	6. Run

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback. I get the feeling this is taking on a life of it's own. Thanks dwparsnip for his beta and support.**

_

* * *

What possessed you to kiss him?_ Jennifer turned away from Rodney as she felt her cheeks heat up. _You've never initiated a kiss with someone who is basically a stranger before._ As Jennifer took a deep breath, she saw that Rodney did look calm and was replacing a clip on his P90.

"Doctor McKay," Gunny said. "Once I check outside, I want you to take point. We need to protect Doctor Keller."

"Absolutely," Rodney said as he looked at the Sergeant and nodded.

"If something happens to me, get her back to the village. Find a stone or brick building with multiple floors and get in a room on an upper level with a good view of the area around you," the Sergeant said.

"Hey, I'm right here. Don't talk about me like I'm not standing between you," Jennifer snapped. Gunny was beginning to sound like her father and uncle, which pissed her off.

"Nothing's going to happen to you, Sergeant Richards," Rodney said confidently.

"I hope not," Richards said with as much of a smile as the man allowed on his face during a mission.

"I'll move the cabinet. You two be ready to shoot if something is outside the door," he said looking from Rodney to Jennifer.

"Just a second," Rodney said as Richards moved to the cabinet to shove it out of the way. The physicist turned to Jennifer and said, "Jennifer, can you use two handguns at once?"

"If one of those things is out there, absolutely," she replied as Rodney reached down to pull his Beretta out of its holster and hand it to her.

"Good idea, Doctor McKay," Gunny said and Jennifer saw Rodney's face swell with pride.

Suddenly she realized what the soldier was doing._ He's giving Rodney a mission, to protect me. _She could not keep a smile off her face as she realized Richards was as good with people as he was with military strategy. Once they got back to Atlantis, she was going to find out the man's story.

"Wait," Rodney said as he held up his hand as Gunny was going to move the cabinet once again. "What if it's on the roof waiting for us to leave through the door and jump on us?"

Jennifer, Richards and McKay all looked up at the same time. Richards stepped back to where they were, about half way into the room, hefted his P90 and shot into the ceiling causing the two geniuses to jump. Nothing scurried away or fell off.

"Nope, not on the roof, but good thinking again, Doctor McKay," Gunny nodded and went to move the cabinet.

Jennifer flicked the safety off the gun Rodney had handed her and glanced at the scientist before Gunny moved the cabinet. "Watch out for holes. I don't want to have to carry you if you trip and fall."

Rodney smiled as their eyes met. "I have a bad back, so don't expect me to carry you, either."

"Then we better not fall," Jennifer said with a smile. The ease she felt with Rodney was unlike anything she ever experienced before. _I can't wait to get back to Atlantis and spend more time with him under more normal circumstances. _

"Doctor Keller," Richards said as he prepared to move the cabinet. "If Wagner's weapon is close by and you can grab it, then do so. Otherwise stay with Doctor McKay and run as fast as you can to the village."

"Sure, Gunny," Jennifer said as she took a deep breath, stretched her tense arm muscles out and looked one more time at Rodney. "I've got some other food in my pack once we get to the village. You must be starving."

"I'm firing Carson when we return and you get to be my personal doctor," Rodney said with a smile.

* * *

"Gunny, let's do this," Rodney said in a commanding voice as he looked away from her. The amount of confidence that she and Sergeant Richards injected into McKay in a few short minutes boosted her own. _No way those dumb creatures will get the best of us._ Catching Richards' eyes as he nodded at McKay and then her, she raised both handguns and waited as Gunny shoved the cabinet out of the way and paused to let the noise settle before he pushed the door open with his boot.

The fear of something standing outside the door was so strong in Jennifer that she visibly sagged when nothing charged in at her and Rodney. Richards quickly stepped in front of the scientists. Jennifer took a quick look behind her at the smashed window noting for the first time the black liquid on the glass. _They have black blood? Like a Wraith?_

"Jennifer," Rodney's voice caused her to look back at him and out the door. "Let's go."

"Right beside you," she said as she stepped outside onto the hill in front of the building. Richards was standing a bit away from the building and was looking into the woods on either side as well as on the roof.

A sound like a moan came from Jennifer's left. "Oh my God, Wagner!" Without thinking, she started toward the trees in front of her only to have Rodney's hand grab her arm and pull her back.

"Jennifer, what're you doing?" He said quietly, but firmly, to her.

"Doctors, move out!" Richards yelled as he stepped back to them.

"But I heard something. It might be Wagner," Jennifer said.

"Go! Now," Richards glared at her.

Rodney still had a hold on her arm and he was holding tight while tugging her to follow him.

"I thought you don't leave men behind?" Jennifer said angrily. "There are three of us with weapons…"

"I said move it. Doctor McKay will carry you if you don't go now." Richards sounded angry, so Jennifer decided to follow Rodney.

* * *

The physician and the physicist walked quickly down the small hill afraid of falling if they ran on the incline. Richards came behind them and when Jennifer ventured a glance back, she saw him walking backwards aiming his gun at the trees where Jennifer thought she heard the noises. _I can't believe a man of his reputation would leave a man behind. It must be his orders to protect me. Damn my uncle! If Wagner dies and I could have saved him…_

Jennifer did not get to finish that thought because Richards opened up with his P90 and yelled, "Run!"

"Come on," Rodney said from her side as he put his head down to run.

Jennifer glanced back once more and swallowed a scream as she picked up speed. Four man-sized creatures were coming out of the forest running on all fours and occasionally getting on their hind legs to leap. _No way we'll make it to the village in time._

Running like she never had before, Jennifer looked back and saw one of the creatures veer away from the other three, which were encircling Richards. She fired at it with her Berettas as it neared her and Rodney. Before she got off many shots, something hit from behind driving her to the ground and causing her to drop one of the guns and land on the other one.

"Stay down," Rodney's voice said in her ear as gunfire erupted from in front of them.

The grass was so high that Jennifer could not see anything except grain stalks in front of her. She was lying face down with Rodney on top of her. His heavy breathing, the gunfire and screaming creatures were all she could hear until the explosion. Rodney pressed himself more fully over her as dirt rained down on them. _Someone must have some grenades._

Jennifer's right arm was pinned along her right side still clutching the Beretta, which was pressed between her thigh and the ground. Her left arm was close to her body because Rodney had wrapped his left arm around her to pull her down and his arm was still around her waist. He must have dropped his P90 because his right arm held her head close to his chest as he shielded her with his body.

Jennifer had been so engrossed in thought for a moment that she had not realized that the shooting had stopped. In fact there was complete silence, except for the pounding in her ears and their combined breathing."

"Clear!" The voice of Major Lorne called from nearby.

_Lorne? What's he doing here? Reinforcements already. _Jennifer had a sigh of relief escape her lips. _They move fast around here._

"Clear," Ronon could be heard further to the left of her current location.

"Rodney," Jennifer said weakly. The uneven ground, weapons and assorted items in Rodney's tac vest were stabbing and poking into her causing her a lot of discomfort.

"Shhh," Rodney said into her ear. The feel of his warm breath so close to her ear and the sensitive skin on her neck caused her to tremble, which the physicist obviously felt because he shifted slightly and managed to take some pressure off her by pushing himself up a little with his right arm. His left arm was still wrapped securely around her midsection. The close contact, coupled with the fact that she had to run for her life and shoot at something intent on killing them took her breath away.

"Jennifer, are you okay?" Rodney finally whispered into her ear.

"Uh-huh," Jennifer could not get any words out as she realized by the positioning of their bodies that something else was stabbing her that was not a weapon. Sensations that had no place in a life-or-death situation suddenly washed over her body. "Can't breath."

"Are you two okay?" Sheppard's voice could be heard as the sound of running footsteps registered with Jennifer.

"Yeah. I think so." Rodney shifted again taking more weight off of Jennifer's petite form.

"McKay, you're crushing her," the Colonel could be heard as his shadow passed over them. Jennifer was still looking at the ground beneath her. She had not been in a position to look at Rodney to see if his reaction to their proximity was anything more than basic biology.

"Thank God you guys made it," Rodney said as he fully climbed off of her and reached down to help her up.

Her hand was finally trembling as she took his and was pulled to her feet. She swayed slightly and Rodney immediately grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling. "Probably a head rush. I'm sorry I tackled you but I saw Ronon coming and aiming at the creature headed for us. I didn't want you to get caught in the crossfire."

"Thanks. Just… winded," she managed to gasp out. The adrenaline high and the fear she kept contained were finally starting to surface.

"Okay. Just take it easy. The cavalry's here," Rodney said as he forced a smile. His blue eyes looked over her critically, like when he took care of her injury that morning.

"Grenades, Gunny?" Ronon's deep voice could be heard.

"Only a couple. Needed to be careful when I use 'em," his deep voice said from behind them.

"Where's Wagner?" Lorne asked as he raised an eyebrow at the sight of Rodney holding onto Jennifer's shoulders as she tried to keep her composure.

"I need some men to go get him," Richards said.

"What happened?" Sheppard asked glancing around.

"Can we download the information someplace safe? Like a jumper?" Rodney asked, his voice full of sarcasm.

"There's no jumper," the Colonel said.

"What the hell are you doing here then?" Rodney yelled at Lorne. He was still standing close to Jennifer and did not remove his hands from her.

"Where are Doctor Patel and the others?" She asked looking around and seeing only Sheppard, Lorne and Ronon.

"Warrington's injured. He's in the village with Roberts," Lorne explained.

"We need to move. Doctor McKay's right, we can do this someplace else," Gunny's voice cut in.

_For him to interrupt his senior officers, he must be concerned. Why didn't they get to the gate? _

"Lorne and McKay, get Doctor Keller back to the village to look at Warrington," John said. "Ronon, Gunny and I'll get Wagner."

"Good idea," Rodney said as he grabbed his P90 off the ground after finally releasing Jennifer.

"Are you okay, Doctor Keller?" The Major asked looking at her critically as well.

"Just scared to death, but other than that, I'm just peachy," she said trying to force a smile.

Rodney handed Jennifer her dropped handgun and then asked Lorne, "What happened?"

"Get moving!" Sheppard's voice yelled from a distance.

"I'll explain later. McKay on point," Lorne said as Rodney nodded and set off with Jennifer right behind him and Lorne in the rear.

* * *

**A/N: Was going to take out the McKeller moment, but dwp thinks it fit. If you hated it, blame him :-)**


	7. We're So Screwed

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback. Thanks scr1 and dwparsnip, as always.  
**

* * *

The village looked like many others that Jennifer had seen pictures of or read about before coming to Atlantis. There were about twenty buildings of varying sizes along the main street with a large meeting house at the end. Jennifer saw the young Marine, Roberts, standing outside of a small brick building at the edge of town.

"Okay, where's the jumper?" Rodney barked, as they got closer to Roberts.

"We couldn't call Atlantis," Lorne said.

"Why not?" Rodney asked stopping so fast Jennifer collided with his back.

"We can discuss it when everyone's inside," the Major said.

"Don't we want to be in a taller building?" Jennifer asked Lorne, panting slightly from their jog across the field as she surveyed the single story brick building in front of them with windows all around. Gunfire could be heard coming from the area of the communications building periodically, but now fell silent. _I hope they're all right._

"Now you're a military strategist?" Evan said with a smirk on his face.

Jennifer heard a groan from her right as Rodney said, "Richards gave me orders to find a multi-story, brick building with a good view of the street to stay in. We'll go to the meeting house up the street."

Lorne raised an eyebrow as he looked at the scientist. "I doubt Richards put you in charge of this operation."

"It's true…" Jennifer started, suddenly feeling the need to defend Rodney to the cocky Air Force Major.

"I'm in _charge_ of Doctor Keller's safety," he said with an air of arrogance and pride.

"Really?" Lorne said.

"Can you get me to your injured man, Major?" Jennifer said hotly to Evan. "I don't want to get in the middle of a pissing match, if you'll excuse my language, between the two of you."

"Uh… of course," Lorne said looking sheepishly. "He's in here."

"I said we need to move to another building," Rodney said refusing to let his orders from Gunny Richards slide.

"Rodney, it's a good idea to have a separate place to deal with the injured," Jennifer said as she reached out to touch his arm. "We don't want the building we're in to smell like blood."

Rodney's eyebrows rose as he looked like he was going to be sick. "That makes sense, I guess."

"If they're attracted to blood, we don't want it with us," Jennifer said as she moved past Rodney and turned to address the Evan. "I need the pack Gunny gave you, Major."

"Sure," Lorne said as he walked into the structure with her.

* * *

The last rays of the sun shone through a large picture window at the front of the building. It appeared to have been some type of shop for household and farming supplies. Sergeant Robert Warrington was leaning against some spools of rope. Blood could be seen on the back of his jacket, as he laid on his stomach over the rope, so his back was not pressed against anything. Five parallel tears ran across the material.

"Two injuries, so close together, Sergeant? I'm beginning to think you're trying to get my attention," Jennifer said with a smile as she knelt in front of him. Lorne set the medical pack next to her.

"No offense, Doc, but I could think of some other ways to get your attention without injuring myself if I wanted to," the man from Bermuda said with a smile.

"Did you take something for the pain?" Jennifer chuckled because the Marine's eyes looked a bit dazed.

"Yeah, Roberts had some painkillers, so I took a bunch," the Sergeant explained. "Needed to run back here cause those things were right behind us."

"What happened?" Jennifer asked only to hear shouting from outside the door where Lorne and Rodney stood guard.

"Why didn't you call Atlantis?" Rodney asked.

"We couldn't call Atlantis because the DHD was busted," Evan explained.

"What!" Rodney said in a panicked voice.

_I hope he calms down or I'll have to kiss him again_, Jennifer thought as she removed bandages, antiseptic and cream to put on Warrington's cuts. "I'm sorry to cause you more pain, but I need to get your jacket and clothing off."

"I understand." Warrington shifted position to unzip his tac vest and jacket with obvious discomfort and much moaning.

"The DHD crystals were smashed and the dialing device was damaged." Evan sounded angry. "There was nothing we could do. Not to mention as soon as we got there, those things were on us."

"We're _so_ screwed," Rodney yelled. "Atlantis won't worry about calling us _until_ tomorrow morning. Then they'll wait the _standard_ six hours and try again. We'll be here until tomorrow night at the earliest. A team'll come through the gate, the creatures'll get them, then another team, until they _finally_ send a jumper."

"McKay, relax. We'll set-up in a secure building and wait," Lorne said with exasperation in his voice.

"Hey!" Jennifer shouted to be heard outside. "Rodney, I could use a hand in here." Realizing Rodney and Lorne were going to continue to bicker and argue, potentially distracting them from keeping an eye out for the creatures, she took matters into her own hands. _If I get him to help me, he'll have something to do, which seems to calm him down._

"What do you need?" Rodney asked as he hurried in to her and her patient.

"I'm going to need your help getting his clothes off. He's a little dopey from too many pain meds and his muscles must be getting stiff from the injuries," Jennifer explained as Rodney knelt beside them.

"Okay." Rodney looked confused as his blue eyes looked into hers.

"Just help get his arms out of the sleeves on his jacket and get the tac vest off," Jennifer said.

Rodney set down his P90 close by and helped maneuver the big Sergeant into a more upright position. They did not take long to get the man out of his bloody, torn clothing.

"Sorry, I don't have any scrubs for you, but I'm sure we can find clothing somewhere in town," Jennifer said as Warrington grunted. Looking at his back, she took a deep breath at the sight of five slashes in his flesh. They ran from near his left shoulder down to his ribs on the right.

"What happened?" Rodney asked as Jennifer glanced and saw the physicist's eyes staring at the gashes.

"Doctor Patel ran once we heard the creatures coming by the gate," Warrington said with slightly slurred voice. "I started after him, but one jumped out of a tree onto me."

"Do you know what happened to Doctor Patel? What about the others?" Jennifer felt fear grip her heart. _My entire team is dead? I can't believe that._

"Never saw the others. Didn't hear gunfire either, so don't know what happened," Warrington said as he blinked his eyes like he was trying to stay awake.

"So Patel ran and you followed." Jennifer stated again, as she began to treat and bandage his wounds. The doctor wrapped bandages around him to keep the cuts relatively clean as they were not deep enough to merit stitches in the field. _I hope they are clean enough to prevent infection._

"Yeah. But never got to him. Heard him…" Warrington stopped and looked away from Jennifer.

"I… I understand." Jennifer suddenly felt tears well up in her eyes as she sat back on her heels. _I can't cry here. Maybe later, but not now._ Just thinking about not crying only increased the pressure and build-up of tears.

"There's nothing you could have done." Rodney's voice came from close by. He had stood up after he finished with the removal of Warrington's clothing, but remained in the building with them.

She glanced up and saw his intense blue eyes staring at her. _He saw the tears in my eyes and he's trying to help._ The thought caused her to attempt a smile as she said, "But I could have gone with them…I might have…"

"What? Saved a terrified man from running _into_ danger when he thought he was running _away_ from it?" Rodney said as he knelt down next to her again. "Trust me, I always ran away from danger years ago and _no one_, no matter _who_ they were, could've changed my mind once I started."

"I'm responsible and… now they're probably all dead," Jennifer said as she felt a tear leak out. The feel of a warm hand turning her face toward his caused her to start.

"Listen to me," Rodney said firmly. "Don't beat yourself up. We all make our own choices. Patel _chose_ to run. The soldiers made it back with only the Sergeant, here, injured. I have to believe if Patel did what he was told, he might be here too. That's not your fault."

Jennifer knew she could stare into those intense blue eyes on Rodney's handsome face for hours. The warmth of his hand still on her cheek helped to make her feel more secure. _I know he's trying to help._ That thought caused her to smile and nod. "You're right."

"Of course I am," Rodney said smiling an arrogant smile as he removed his hand. He glanced at the Sergeant with an embarrassed expression on his face, but the soldier did not seem to notice his actions as his eyes were closed. "I should see if Sheppard and the others are coming back."

"Sure," Jennifer said with a smile as she reached over and squeezed his hand. "Thanks."

"Any time." Rodney got up and walked back out the doorway leaving Jennifer to get Warrington's bandages settled. The young physician was also left with unusual feelings going through her. _In a horrible situation like this, I meet someone I could really become interested in, what a crazy galaxy._

_

* * *

_**A/N: No nightmares for anyone today, except the team on this planet.**_  
_


	8. The Village

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback and to scr1 and dwparsnip for beta. **

* * *

"Doctor Keller," Lorne's voice called. "They're back with Wagner."

Jennifer jumped up and walked outside the makeshift _field hospital_ to see the others returning. Ronon was carrying an injured Sergeant Wagner in his arms. The Marine, who was similar in build to Major Lorne, had blood on the front of his jacket and bruises on his face. _Must have been driven into the ground by the impact._

"Bring him in here," Jennifer called out to the big Satedan, who was in the lead with Richards and Sheppard bringing up the rear. It appeared Richards had some pieces of equipment strapped on his back.

Ronon hurried past Jennifer and she got a better look at Wagner. The front of his jacket was soaked in blood and the left side of his face was swollen. Swallowing hard, Jennifer noticed blood on the Satedan as well. _I really hope we can find him a change of clothing._ The thought of the large, muscular man without his shirt made her think of old Arnold Schwarzenegger movies that she watched with her dad. _I feel like I'm trapped in Predator Ten already, a half-naked man running around won't help the feeling._

"Where do you want him?" Ronon's deep voice asked pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Set him down on that table," Jennifer instructed as she stopped by Sergeant Warrington to give him one last smile and comforting word. "You shouldn't have too much scarring. Not enough to scare the women away, but enough to make those women who love scars curious."

Warrington's deep laughter echoed in the small shop causing Ronon to look over at them. "Do you _love_ scars, Doctor Keller?"

"Sorry, Sergeant, I've got a family full of soldiers and veterans, so no way I'm ending up with one as a boyfriend," she chuckled and grabbed her pack before heading over to Wagner.

"My loss," her patient said still chuckling.

"Ronon, can you help Warrington get to the other building? I don't think he'll be able to stand on his own. Oh, and you'll want to lose the bloody shirt," Jennifer said with some trepidation. She had never spoken to the Satedan and knew from others in the infirmary that he was quiet and seemed to really only respond to his team, Weir and Beckett. Most of her colleagues were still intimidated by him after working with him for almost two years. "I'm sure there's other clothing around. Don't want to attract the creatures if they're drawn to blood."

"Sure. No problem," Ronon said as he walked away. The Satedan helped the big Marine to his feet and put an arm around his shoulders to help guide him out of the building.

_Probably the most words I'll ever get out of him_, Jennifer thought as she began to assess Wagner's situation and she had to visibly shake her head. The German soldier had slashes across his upper body from shoulder to shoulder and across his abdomen. _No way he's going to make it if we don't get back to Atlantis soon._

"How is he, Doc?" Colonel Sheppard said as he entered the building with Rodney behind him.

Jennifer had not been able to hear what had been going on outside, but she had heard the raised voices. Wanting to go outside to be part of the discussion would have meant leaving her patients and she would never do that. _They'll let me know what I need to know._

"Really bad, Colonel," Jennifer said. "I won't lie to you. I'm not sure he'll survive the night if what the Major and Rodney said is true about no one coming until late tomorrow?"

"Richards and McKay might be able to improve those odds, but we need to get everyone moved down the street. It'll be dark in less than an hour and we don't want to be here," John said walking over to look down at his wounded soldier more closely.

"I know. Rodney suggested the meeting house down the road, but I'd like to treat the injured here to try to leave the blood in this building," Jennifer said as she cut back some of Wagner's shirt.

A gasp was heard from Rodney, who was behind her, as his eyes saw bright white bone under the flesh and blood of the man's upper body. The upper arm on the left side was slashed so deep; his bone was visible to the naked eye.

"You might want to step outside, Rodney," Jennifer said glancing at him as she continued to remove what clothing she could without causing more damage. "This is really bad."

"Yeah, I need to work on the radio," he said as he turned and left.

"Radio?" Jennifer asked glancing at Sheppard.

"From the building. Richards thought Morse code might work and McKay agrees." John moved next to her. "Do you need help? I've seen worse from roadside bombs in Kabul, so I won't throw up."

"Thanks, Colonel," Jennifer smiled at the soldier and told him where to find gloves in her backpack.

* * *

It was dark by the time Jennifer and Sheppard were done patching up Wagner as best they could. The physician took a moment to change her bloody pants and shirt. She had ditched her jacket long ago, so it was clean. Richards, Roberts and Ronon stood by to escort them to the other building. Staring into the darkness between the buildings terrified Jennifer. She gripped the P90 she had been given as she walked behind Ronon, who was in the lead. Sheppard and Roberts were carrying the makeshift stretcher they fastened for Wagner and Richards was in the rear. The lights from the building at the end of the street drew her like a magnet. Trying to control her breathing and not remember all the horror movies she saw or heard about was difficult.

Thinking of all she learned from Sheppard while he assisted her seemed to help. The Colonel told her the gunfire they heard earlier was from Lorne's team as they were chased by the creatures and from he and Ronon providing cover. The creatures stopped before entering the settlement for some reason and ran back into the woods. Jennifer relayed what happened to them in the communications building as well.

Sheppard also shared the plan to use a repeating Morse code signal so that Atlantis would pick it up in the morning when they opened a wormhole. The thought that Richards, who she trusted implicitly based on her uncle's information about the man, and Rodney, who she also had faith in, working on a plan together gave her a sense of security that they might all survive this.

_Why the hell did you think that? Now you've jinxed us. _Jennifer immediately thought she heard something to her right, confirming her internal fear of causing disaster to strike, and spun in that direction aiming the light on the P90 up an alleyway. Everyone else must have heard the sound too because they all stopped as well.

"Keep moving," Sheppard hissed to her. He was directly behind her carrying the front of the litter. "Ronon, Richards, cover."

Ronon and Richards moved so they were on the sides of the doctor and the stretcher-bearers. Jennifer's heart thudded in her chest and she felt a tremor shoot through her body. She looked ahead at the figure of Major Lorne silhouetted against the light inside the meeting house. At first the light comforted her and gave her a beacon, but now she thought it was too bright and would attract the creatures like the bug zapper on her uncle's deck.

Rodney suddenly appeared next to Lorne with his P90 raised. _They must have seen us pause and look around. _Looking at the physicist gave her more strength to keep moving. Realizing she and the Head of Science needed to have a long conversation when they got back also pushed her onward.

A shout from Lorne and the sudden sound of a P90 from behind caused her to throw caution to the wind and flat-out run to the two men in front of her. The sound of Ronon's powerful handgun mixed with Richard's automatic weapon fire rang through the air.

In front of her, Rodney and Lorne set up on either side of the building and were shooting past Jennifer. Remembering that Sheppard and Roberts were carrying a wounded man and could not defend themselves suddenly overtook her initial sense of self-preservation. Stopping and turning, she saw Sheppard and Roberts running as best they could with their burden. Jennifer dropped into a crouch and started firing around the two men. Afraid of getting shot by Rodney or Evan, she knew she needed to stay low.

"What are you doing!" Sheppard screamed at her when they got close to her. "Get inside!"

Jennifer ignored him and rose from the ground once they passed to take up a position directly behind Roberts. She saw Richards to her left and Ronon to her right, and movement in the light from their weapons fire and the faint moonlight that was emerging from behind cloud cover.

It felt like she was walking backwards firing at shadows in the darkness for minutes, but knew it was only a few seconds. A strong arm suddenly wrapped around her waist lifting her off the ground and causing her to almost drop her gun.

"Ahhh!" She screamed as she tried to move her gun around to shoot whatever was immediately behind her.

"It's me!" Rodney yelled into her ear and the next thing she knew, they were both inside the bright lantern-light of the meetinghouse.

"Don't be stupid like that again," Rodney growled at her as he quickly released her and ran back to the doorway to provide cover for Richards and Ronon.

"I don't know when you think you _enlisted_, but I'm tearing up your papers," Sheppard said as he hurried to the door as they waited for Richards and Ronon to get inside.

* * *

Jennifer paused to look around the room and saw Roberts near a large window to the right of the door and Warrington sitting on a stool with his P90 aimed out the window to the left of the door. Wagner had been set on the floor in the center of the room. Tables and chairs were overturned in most of the room except for one that held the equipment from the communications building.

A huge table was overturned in front of the rear door and it looked to Jennifer like a charge was planted on it in case the door was opened. Her uncle had shown her explosives during one of her tours of his base when she was a kid and her dad loved military movies, so she recognized the piece of C4 stuck between the table and the door frame.

Quickly dropping down next to Wagner, she saw some red soaking though the bandages. Reaching for her backpack that Sheppard dropped onto the floor, she realized there was silence around her. Looking up she saw Warrington and McKay looking out the window on the left and Roberts and Lorne on the right. Sheppard, Ronon and Richards were standing in the doorway with no sounds to be heard from outside.

"Are they gone?" Rodney asked weakly.

"Looks like they fell back," the Colonel said.

Jennifer closed her eyes and released the breath she was holding. Pressure built up behind her eyes as the adrenaline and fear washed over her. _I know I said I could cry later, but it's not time yet._

"Doctor Keller?" Sheppard said as he walked to her. The sound of the door being closed and furniture being moved could also be heard.

"I'm sorry, Colonel. I know it was stupid to stop, but I _can_ shoot a gun," Jennifer said as she opened her eyes to look up into his hazel ones. Rodney had also joined him standing around her. The soldiers were busy blocking the windows and the door.

"I started the day with four civilians under my care. Now I only have one," John said with a look of regret on his face.

"Well, I lost those _three_, too. Doctor Beckett put _me_ in charge, so I'm just as responsible as you," Jennifer said hotly as she stood up. Looking up at the men towering around her was not something she wanted to do since she felt small as it was.

"You need to follow orders…" Sheppard started to lecture her only to be cut off by Richards.

"Sir," Richards' voice sounded from behind Sheppard. The big Marine stepped up to him and nodded at Jennifer. "Mister Meeks was a tragic death, sir. But the other two might have been prevented if they did what they were told. Everyone is told never to wear new shoes on a hike and Doctor Patel, from what I heard, ran away when he should have stayed close. It seems to me, sir, that Doctor Keller _does_ follow orders or she wouldn't be alive."

The Colonel looked at the hardened Marine and then at Jennifer. "I'm sorry Doctor Keller, but you are taking some risks I wish you wouldn't."

Laughter erupted from Rodney, who had been standing almost between Jennifer and Sheppard. "That's the pot calling the kettle black."

A smile broke out on Sheppard's face that made Jennifer smile back and she said, "I'll try to be better at following orders."

"And I'll try to be nicer," John said extending a hand. "Truce?"

"Sure," Jennifer said with a bigger grin as she shook the Colonel's hand and then glanced at Rodney, who was heading back to the radio equipment. A scowl was on his face as his eyes left their joined hands to briefly catch her eyes and look away. _What's wrong with him?_

_

* * *

_**A/N: I'm really glad some of you are enjoying this because it's killing me _not_ to show what's in McKay's head. Maybe I need to write his version some day :-)**_  
_


	9. Settling In

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for the positive feedback. Thanks dwparsnip and scr1 for beta and starclipper01 for suggestions.**

* * *

Jennifer did what she could to stabilize Wagner, but moving him from the other building and jostling him around caused more bleeding. Once she got him settled in a room upstairs and staunched the blood, a weary and bone-tired physician returned to the others with Sheppard on her heels.

Without any conscious thought, she fell onto the bench next to Rodney as he continued to play with the radio. Setting her head on her arms, she took a moment to close her eyes.

"How's Wagner?" Lorne asked.

"Huh," Jennifer's head snapped up because she swore she fell asleep. The sound of Colonel Sheppard's voice filling everyone in on Wagner's condition made her realize the Major was not addressing her directly.

"Doctor Keller will let you know if she needs blood donors, so eat something tonight," Sheppard could be heard saying. "Don't want anyone passing out if she draws blood."

"Go to sleep," Rodney said from next to her. "You look exhausted."

"I think I just did," Jennifer confessed as she looked at his hands fly around the equipment rewiring and reconfiguring. "So, do you think Morse code will cut through the interference?"

"It should. On Earth, it cuts through most atmospheric interference. But I have no idea what's causing this here." Rodney had not looked up from his work and continued to scowl.

"You must have some idea?" Jennifer asked trying to get Rodney to talk to her again. He seemed very agitated and upset since she came back downstairs.

"Do I look like I've had time to research it? With monsters trying to eat me and watching out for you?" Rodney said angrily as his eyes finally looked at hers.

Jennifer saw anger and, what looked like, sadness in his eyes. "Rodney, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he barked and turned back to his work.

"Did you eat anything?" Jennifer's dad was the kind of man who got angry if he was too hungry. He would never admit to having a dependency on anything, but she had been camping and hiking with him too many times to not notice he got irritable when hungry.

"Have I had time?" Rodney said angrily again.

Deciding that hunger must be upsetting him, she reached into her pocket to pull out the last peanut butter power bar and a bag of beef jerky. "Do you have time now?" She held the food out to him.

Instantly, his hand grabbed the power bar. Jennifer moved quickly and caught his hand with hers. Refusing to let go until he looked at her. "Rodney, I'm really scared, too. We…"

Jennifer paused uncertain of what to say next. She wanted to say, _we've been through a lot today and I couldn't have done it without you_, but it sounded too cliché. _I want to get to know you better_ also sounded lame. The young woman settled for something else. "We've been under a lot of stress, but fighting among ourselves won't help."

Rodney did not pull his hand away and the anger seemed to melt away from his eyes until…

"Hey, Doc, is McKay stealing your food?" Sheppard's voice cut into their quiet moment.

Rodney quickly yanked his hand away with the power bar. "I don't steal food, Sheppard!"

"Only from children," the Colonel said as he sat across from them. The other soldiers were sitting around eating as well. Ronon was the next to come and sit with them looking immediately at the bag of beef jerky on the table where Jennifer set it.

"What's this?" He asked.

"It's dried meat," Sheppard added.

"Great," Ronon said opening the bag and pulling out some strips.

"Help yourself," Jennifer said sarcastically as she looked at the teammates critically.

"Wha…" Ronon mumbled with a full mouth.

"I was going to say let the hypoglycemic person eat first, but by all means…" Jennifer said looking at the Satedan and waving her hand.

"He started his whining about food again?" John said as he took out some dried beef.

"It's a real medical condition," Rodney barked at his teammate.

"Sure it is." Sheppard nodded.

"It really is. I know some folks don't think so, but people can suffer from low blood sugar and pass out." Jennifer looked at Sheppard and noticed he was smirking and checking her out once again.

"Since you are a physician, I'll believe you." Sheppard's eyes twinkling as a patented smirk spread over his face. It was smile that Jennifer was certain melted girl's hearts for years.

_So, that's how it's going to be._ Jennifer smiled sweetly and said a little louder for everyone to hear. "Thanks for you assistance with Wagner, Colonel."

"You can call me John," he said as a groan from Rodney could be heard to her right.

"No, I'll call you Colonel," Jennifer said. "It's the respectful thing to do, because I'm a lady and can't call you anything else."

Obviously missing the annoyance in her voice, John continued, "Because we're in a public setting, you mean? I agree we shouldn't embarrass anyone with pet names, just yet."

A part of Jennifer's brain knew he was joking around. _No one of his rank and position was that much of an ass. Well, not entirely true. _The sleepy, terrified part of her brain was in charge at the moment and that particular Jennifer was a smart ass. "If that pet name begins with an _A_ and ends with an _S_ with one letter in between, you're right. I don't want to use it in public."

Gut-wrenching laughter erupted from the only two men in the room allowed to laugh at their CO. Ronon and Rodney were almost in tears before they settled down.

Sheppard looked angry for a second and then laughed. "Guess I earned that."

"Sorry, Colonel, but your charms won't work on me. I realize women must melt under that look, but I'm _immune_ to the charms of Air Force officers... and Marines, too." Jennifer glanced at Warrington while Ronon and McKay laughed once again.

"Just keep driving that stake deeper and deeper, ma'am," Warrington said with laughter in his voice.

Roberts, who had been staring at her for a while, chuckled from Warrington's left as Richards glared at the young Marine.

"Doctor Keller," Sergeant Richards said as he rose and went to the pile of equipment the soldiers gathered from each other and the village. "Why don't you head upstairs and get some rest?"

"Oh, no," Jennifer said as she rose, walking over to check on Warrington's injuries. "I've seen that horror movie too many times. The blond chick heads off alone to be eaten alive. No thank you."

She knelt next to Warrington to look at his back. "Looks good, Sergeant."

"Thanks to you, ma'am," the big man said with a smile.

"Only if she has sex with someone," Roberts said from next to her as silence descended over the room.

"Excuse me?" Jennifer looked at the young man's green eyes with surprise. He had been checking her out all day, but making jokes about sex was the last thing she expected from him.

"Roberts!" The angry bark from Richards caused everyone to jump including Jennifer. "Outside with me to set charges!"

"What?" Roberts said turning to look up at Richards. "Oh, come on, it was a joke. All horror movies have some beautiful woman having sex and getting killed."

"Thanks for that advice, Sergeant Roberts," Jennifer said in a voice that dripped with sarcasm. "I'll be sure to take sex off my _to do list_ for the evening. It was second behind, _don't die at the hands of mutated creatures_."

"Roberts! I said front and center," Gunny yelled. "Get some Claymores! We're going outside!"

"But those things are out there," Roberts whined as he stood in front of the angry Master Gunnery Sergeant.

The part of Jennifer that was a healer and cared about everyone was concerned, but the woman who had been reduced to an object by the young man's gaze most of the day could care less. She noticed no one else in the room said anything as Richards began ordering Roberts around.

"Get your night vision goggles, so you can see them." Richards stepped nose-to-nose with the shorter, thinner soldier.

"It was a joke," Roberts glanced at Jennifer and back at the angry man in front of him. "She joked about being blond and…"

"A joke causes people to laugh and no one's laughing," Richards growled. "Get your goggles and some Claymores and be ready to go outside in a minute. Disobey me again and I'll station you out there for the night."

"But…" Roberts was not letting up.

_What an idiot?_ Jennifer shook her head as she watched the man dig his own grave. _Richards never looses his cool under pressure_, her uncle's words rang through her head. _I guess he never saw Richards with an idiot before._

"When we get back to Atlantis, you will pack your shit and be in the Gateroom to return to Earth with the first dial out," Richards said in his quiet, deadly voice. The initial outrage over the implied insult to Jennifer was gone and replaced with his cool demeanor once again.

"You can't throw me off Atlantis," Roberts started.

Lorne had stepped close to the men and said, "But I can. Now do what the Gunny says."

Jennifer swallowed as Roberts headed to the pile of gear. Richards turned to face her. "I'm sorry for how he's treated you today, Doctor Keller. I should have done something earlier, but keeping you safe was my first priority."

"No harm done, Gunny. Besides, I'm used to it," Jennifer said with a defeated voice. Because she was blond and considered pretty by many, she endured far worse than Robert's roving eyes and rude comment.

"Don't ever be. You are an intelligent, resourceful, compassionate and incredibly brave woman who deserves to be treated with more respect than the Queen of England," Richards said. As the meaning of his words sunk in, Jennifer felt tears well up in her eyes. "If I'm around, I guarantee you won't be treated with disrespect ever again."

With that, he turned and started getting things ready to go outside. Jennifer felt her face flush as she glanced around for a place to settle in and avoided looking at anyone.

"Doctor McKay," Richards said to Rodney who was still seated with his teammates and playing with the radio.

"Yeah," he said looking at the Marine.

"You'll need to move upstairs. We'll be going lights out down here," Richards said as he pulled some goggles out.

Now that Rodney was joining her on the second floor, she was not as frightened as before. "What about Warrington?" She asked.

"I can hold a gun and still shoot, ma'am," he said with pride in his voice. The Marine did not want to be treated differently because of his wounds.

_What a contrast to the whiny Sergeant Roberts?_ Jennifer smiled at the big man. "We'll need someone to protect us. I know Rodney's considered one of you guys, but he'll be busy with the radio and as much as I am terrified to close my eyes, I know I'll end up falling asleep from exhaustion at some point."

"Warrington can take up a position at a window in the corridor," Sheppard said. "Ronon and Lorne, stay inside. I'll set charges outside with the others."

Jennifer grabbed a couple of blankets that were in the supply pile along with some bars and water. Realizing she had not eaten anything since in the morning with Rodney, her stomach suddenly rumbled.

"Do you need a hand?" Jennifer asked Rodney as he took the radio equipment and his computer bag.

"No, I'm fine," he said with a smile. "You handled yourself really well back there, by the way."

"Thanks," Jennifer said as she felt her cheeks heat up. "But I was really rude to a senior office and member of this expedition. I'll need to apologize…"

"No you don't," Rodney said as he climbed the stairs in front of her. Ronon was helping Warrington come up behind them. "Sheppard plays _Captain Kirk_ all the time with beautiful woman. It's nice to see him get shot down for a change."

"So," Jennifer could not help but smile as she paused next to Rodney at the top of the stairs, "you think I'm beautiful?"

"I… Ah… I mean… Um…" Rodney stammered as the lantern light Jennifer was carrying showed his stunned expression.

"Thank you. It's the nicest thing anyone said to me in ages," Jennifer said and meant every word. For some reason, this man, who she should have hated if she listened to her uncle, had found a way to make her feel safe and happy in the midst of all the horror around them.

Jennifer found a room that was adjoining to the room Wagner was in. Setting the blanket on the floor and the lantern in the corner, she took off her jacket to make a pillow out of it. Voices were heard in the corridor, but her mind was already shutting down for the night as exhaustion was overtaking her. The last thing she heard was Rodney saying he was going to stay in the room with her if it was okay. An affirmative response came from her as she fell immediately to sleep.

**

* * *

A/N: Great big thanks to Starclipper01 for sharing your military expertise. Will confess I had no military adviser before, so mistakes or accuracies are all mine.**


	10. The Calm Before the Storm

**MGM owns all characters except OC.**

**Thanks scr1 for assistance and all my reviewers.  
**

**A/N: I had to get in one fluffy McKeller chapter, so this is it. Be warned!**

* * *

Jennifer woke up with a start as a sound pulled her out of her exhausted slumber. Lying still and straining to hear, _anything_, the physician became aware of something heavy draped over her side and the sound of breathing close by. As Jennifer became more awake, she realized the breathing had light snoring mixed in. When she realized it was a person, a moment of fear passed through her. _Did that asshole sneak up here to…?_ Before she could finish the thought, she felt the person behind her shift a bit and a hand rub over her…

"Ahh!" Jennifer shouted as she sat up and pulled away from the person who had been holding her _breast_ in his hand.

"Wha…" Rodney's voice sounded from beside her as his arms let go of her. The lantern had extinguished while she slept, so they were in near total darkness. A very faint light filtered through the window, but not enough to see by.

"Rodney?" Jennifer asked wearily. _What was he doing here?_

"What is it? Did you hear something?" Rodney could be heard and felt moving around next to her. The sound of something being dragged for a moment was followed by light as a computer screen lit up.

The light reflected on the physicist's face. He looked very sleepy as his hair was slightly standing up at the front, his eyes were blinking rapidly and his free hand was rubbing them.

_It looks like he was really asleep. Doesn't look like he was deliberately trying to cop a feel._ "I think it was more that I _felt_ something."

"What do you mean? Did the building shake? I didn't hear any explosions." Rodney quickly got up, set the laptop down in front of Jennifer, grabbed his gun from next to their makeshift bed on the floor and ran to look out the window.

"No." Jennifer stared after the agitated man._ He really had been asleep. But what was he doing holding me? _"Rodney?"

"I don't see anything. There's barely any moonlight, but I don't see anything moving down there. They kept the lights off all night downstairs," Rodney explained.

"Rodney? Can you come over here?" Jennifer saw him silhouetted against the window and realized she needed to see his face when she asked him the next question. She really liked him so far, but if he was just some horny asshole she needed to know that right away. _It would be impossible for him to lie to me because he's just so expressive._

"What's wrong? Are you injured?" Rodney ran over and knelt beside her. He set his gun aside and reached out to touch her face, tilted her chin up and looked at her injury from the other morning. "It doesn't look infected. The floor was really hard to sleep on. I know my back will be killing me for weeks."

"No, I'm not injured," Jennifer paused before continuing. She could see his bright blue eyes and a look of concern on his face, so she pressed on. "Why were you sleeping with me? I know I was exhausted when I fell asleep, but I don't remember you lying down next to me."

A look of fear crossed Rodney's face. He pulled his hand away and fell onto his backside, sitting next to her to begin his _nervous, rapid talking routine_. "You… you were scared. You woke up crying out. I was afraid something had happened to you."

His hands were flailing about and a look of absolute panic was on his handsome face. Jennifer fought a smile from spreading over her lips as she let him continue to rant.

"You…you grabbed _me_. A really tight hug, so… so I couldn't remove your arms," Rodney stammered looking at her face and then looking around the room.

"I couldn't have been that strong?" Jennifer tried to keep her face emotionless, but it was hard. _He is really cute when he's all worked up._

"Well, I didn't want to hurt you. Anyways, as soon as I _held_ you, you calmed down, so… so… I sat with you. I knew you needed to sleep," Rodney glanced at her eyes and then down again. "I must have fallen asleep, too."

"So you groped me in your sleep?" Jennifer tried hard not to laugh at the expression on his face, eyes wide open and mouth slack-jawed, his eyes glanced at her chest, her face and then to his own hands.

"I… No… I'd never… It… No, I wouldn't do that. You're… you're my teammate… I…" Rodney stammered and looked truly terrified.

"Try explaining that to Richards," Jennifer said threateningly.

"It was an accident. I was asleep. I don't remember touching you and I'd never take advantage of you. It had to be accidental contact," Rodney said in a shaky voice as he now glanced toward the closed door and the specter of the big Marine downstairs obviously filled his mind.

"So ten minutes in the penalty box, then?" Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest and stared into his handsome face.

"Sure. Whatever you want. I'll…" Rodney stopped as a grin erupted on Jennifer's face. "You're just tormenting me. You little…"

"Hey," Jennifer continued to smile and chuckled. "You _were_ feeling me up when I woke up, but I believe that you didn't mean it. You don't strike me as a creep like so many other guys I've known."

"Then why did you make me think you were upset," the physicist said as he mimicked her position with his arms.

"Because you are _adorable_ when you're panicky," Jennifer said and felt her face flush, but the darkness hid it from him.

"That's not nice." Rodney pouted now.

"Saying that you're adorable?" Jennifer refused to let him off easy.

"No, I mean… yes, that's nice, but making me think you were going to get Richards. He'd probably castrate me right here and now." Rodney glared at her.

Jennifer could not contain her laughter any longer. As she finally gave in, she saw a smile and calm spread over her companion's face.

"I won't tell him you felt me up on one condition," Jennifer said between giggles.

"What's that?" Rodney asked with eyebrow raised.

"You have to go on a date with me when we get back to Atlantis," Jennifer said and felt icy hands grip her heart suddenly. If he refused her, she did not know what she would do. She had never asked a guy out before and did not know what possessed her to do it now except that she felt a real connection to the snarky genius.

"A date?" Rodney's expression returned to one of shock. "With me?"

"Yes, with you. I realize this is the worse possible time to talk about this, but…" Jennifer suddenly felt a wave of shyness. Her eyes glanced at the window and then back to his eyes. Once she saw the look of absolute shock melt to something like suspicion, her shyness evaporated. _He really can't believe I'd be interested in him. _"Well, I'm never this forward with guys, but I just feel… I don't know. Some type of _connection_ between us?"

"Connection?" Rodney still looked stunned.

"I can't explain it, but…" Jennifer looked into his blue eyes and tried to will him to remain focused on her. "I just feel…"

"Like we make a great team," Rodney said shyly with his eyes glancing from her to the floor and back.

"Something like that," Jennifer smiled and felt relieve flow through her. "You feel it too?"

"I… I guess. It could also just be excitement that a beautiful woman wants to spend time with me and not Sheppard," Rodney said smiling and looking like a lonely little boy.

Jennifer could not help herself as she knelt in front of him. Putting her hands on his shoulders and staring into his eyes, she said, "I _do_ want to spend time with _you_. I want to find out what you like and don't like, where you grew up, what your family is like and… even what your middle name is."

"My middle name?" Rodney asked confused.

"It's something my dad once said. _If you ever meet someone and you want to know their middle name_, well…" Jennifer suddenly got embarrassed as she remembered the last part. Speaking softly and looking down at a point somewhere on his chest, she continued, "_Don't let them get away."_

"Well, you already know my middle name," Rodney said with a smile. "So I guess you're stuck with me."

"I do?" Jennifer looked into his face, which beamed with happiness.

"Yup. It's Rodney," He said.

"So what's your first name?" Jennifer asked.

"That will take many, many dates for you to find out," the physicist said with a smile.

"Or I could look in your medical files or ask Carson?" Jennifer threatened.

"You could, but I doubt you will," he said looking smug.

"Why's that?" Jennifer asked as she tried to remove her hands only to have him capture them in his.

"Because I think you love to solve a mystery on your own," Rodney said as he squeezed her hands and got up. "Something we have in common."

He lit the light on the P90 and walked over to the radio on a table in the back of the room. "Better get back to the radio."

"Okay, so now that we have a reason to get out of this alive besides self-preservation," Jennifer said with a smile. "I had better get to work, too and check on Wagner." She grabbed her P90 to light the way next door to check on the injured man.

* * *

Some time later, as Jennifer gathered supplies to set up a field blood transfusion if she needed to, a sound from outside caused the hairs on her neck to stand up. It was a scraping sound, which brought Rodney into the room in an instant with his P90 gripped tightly in his hands.

"That sounds like…" Rodney paused as their eyes connected in the light from their P90s.

"Claws on stone," Jennifer finished as a shudder ran through her. "It sounds like a lot of them."

"Should we take a look?" Rodney asked as the door suddenly opened causing them both to jump. Rodney spun aiming his P90 at Sergeant Warrington. "I could have shot you!"

"You need to get to the windows. Something's going on outside," the Marine said as he disappeared back into the hallway.

Rodney and Jennifer hurried to the window looking to the left side of the building and extinguished the lights on their weapons. As their eyes became accustomed to the reduced light outside, they saw dark shapes moving along the street.

"I'd say there's a lot of them," Jennifer said quietly.

"What the hell are they? Some move upright and some seem to crawl on all fours," Rodney said as they watched the various dark shapes move outside.

"I don't know. The villagers never mentioned anything about creatures when you resettled them here, did they?" Jennifer asked. "It's been more than a year, right?"

"No. Nothing in a year," Rodney said as a sound in the corridor caused them to turn. Colonel Sheppard came in with his night vision goggles pushed up on his forehead.

"Everything okay up here?" He asked as he glanced at Wagner on the floor and the two geniuses looking out the window. The moon was finally emerging from behind the clouds, bathing the room in a faint light so they could see each another.

"Wagner will need a transfusion soon," Jennifer said.

"Well, we'll get blood types for you," John said as he came to stand next to them.

"I already looked and it's Roberts or me," Jennifer said. She had downloaded everyone's blood types to her computer and knew who matched.

"Oh, great! Since you're the doctor, you can't do it. He'll just love this," John said shaking his head. "Little prick has some important relative in the IOA."

"Great," Rodney said. "I thought Atlantis only took the best? I didn't think we were subject to nepotism."

Jennifer suddenly felt uncertain. If they knew who her uncle was, they would think she was put here because of him. In truth, her uncle did not want her on Atlantis at all; he wanted her at Cheyenne Mountain where Landry could watch out for her or in Area 51. If he knew she was out on a dangerous mission, he would personally order someone to fly him here and take her home.

Her eyes connected with Sheppard as she realized Gunny told him she had an important person looking out for her and the need to justify herself to the colonel was suddenly very strong. "Wouldn't he have had to prove himself? In order to come here, doesn't he need you and Weir to buy off? The rest of us had to go through that level of scrutiny."

"He's a good soldier. Just an asshole otherwise," John said. "How's the radio, McKay?"

"Almost there, but… I…" Rodney could not look at his CO.

"What?" Sheppard asked with suspicion in his voice.

"I fell asleep, so I need to finish it," Rodney said looking sheepish.

"McKay!" John said harshly. "It's _really_ important to get that working. Atlantis will dial soon."

Jennifer knew she was the reason he did not finish his work. She had a nightmare and he tried to comfort her. Suddenly her desire to protect Rodney from Sheppard's obvious anger overtook her. "I _made_ him go to sleep. He was exhausted and no good to anyone without some rest." _It was not entirely a lie. He said I grabbed him and would not let him go, so he fell asleep._

"Really?" John said looking between the two of them and noticing Rodney's obvious shock at her words.

"Yes," she said as she held her head high daring him to question her.

"Well, he's slept, so now he needs to get to work," John said and as he turned to leave, he looked at Rodney. "No more distractions."

Before Rodney could comment, the Colonel was gone. Rodney looked at Jennifer and she smiled slyly. "You realize he thinks you and I… well… that we… you know."

"What? No way. I'd never…" Rodney started but then stopped as a look of pride crossed his face. "You really think that he thinks we…"

"You know what they said, the blond has to sleep with someone to die and there isn't anyone else here I would consider, but not tonight, though. I really don't want to die until after that first date." Jennifer turned before she could see his reaction and went back to Wagner. Her face was on fire and she honestly had no idea what possessed her to joke about having sex with Rodney, but the entire situation was surreal to start with. _I'm probably going to be tore to pieces by mutant creatures and all I can do is flirt with a guy I've known barely a day. Maybe I'm losing my mind._

_

* * *

Mutant creatures?_ The thought stuck in her head as she changed the IV in Wagner's arm. _What if something changed the villagers? There was no sign of them and also no sign of their deaths. The creatures tore open Meeks and obviously started in on Wagner, so why isn't this place covered in blood?_

Before she could think much more, several things happened, Rodney swore from next door and an explosion lit up the street outside the window in the room she currently occupied. She Jumped up and grabbed her P90 as she ran to the window. A screeching sound was heard from down on the street. Rodney and Warrington were both suddenly standing next to her as they watched a creature staggering back from the building and saw a couple more lying near the site of the explosion.

"Claymores that Gunny put out there," Warrington said.

"I'm almost done with the radio," Rodney said. "Just need a band-aid and then a few more minutes, so can you watch Doctor Keller?"

"I don't need _watching_, Rodney," Jennifer said as she looked up at him with annoyance on her face.

"You're still my responsibility," he said looking at Warrington ignoring her presence like with Richards the day before.

"Sure thing, Doctor McKay," the Sergeant said.

"I am standing…" she was cut off by another explosion on the other side of the building.

"Looks like they are coming from all sides," Warrington said. "Doctor McKay, you better get that radio working. We're going to need everyone at a window shooting pretty soon."

"I'm on it," Rodney said and hurried back next door obviously forgetting his band-aid.

"Why don't you take the other side and I'll stay here?" Jennifer said to the Marine.

"No way. Gunny'll skin me alive if I left you alone," he replied as he took up position next to her so they could watch the street. Nothing was moving on their side since the other explosion.

After several minutes, a third explosion was heard behind the building. Jennifer looked at the Sergeant. "How many mines did you guys have?"

"Six," he answered. "Me and Roberts carried all the ordnance, but we didn't have many explosives since this was only an investigation. Gunny always carries grenades and some C4. We got a few flash-bangs, but that's all."

The fourth explosion sounded from the front of the building. "Two more to go," Jennifer said as she thought of a scene from _Aliens_. In the director's cut, a scene with several large guns shooting off tons of bullets went through her head. The counter got lower and lower with only a few rounds left before they stopped. She thought the scene was terrifying because as the numbers counted down, so did the risk to the characters. _I love the movie but never wanted to live through it._

The fifth and sixth explosions were from the front of the building. Jennifer looked at Warrington and he headed over to the door to the corridor. Swallowing hard, she moved toward the door to the room Rodney was in. "Rodney?"

"What?" He said sounding annoyed.

"We'll need your gun soon," she said as she stared down at the street. Many creatures were coming toward the front of the building. When they got closer, she lost sight of them because her angle of vision out the window did not allow her to see the front of the building.

"Done," Rodney said as he came to stand beside her. A tapping sound was heard from the room he vacated.

"They'll be able to pick that up from the Gate?" Jennifer asked as she looked at him. His face looked tense.

"Assuming the interference doesn't stop it," Rodney took up a position right beside her so he could see as much of the street as possible. "I don't see anything out there."

"Oh there's a lot…" Jennifer stopped talking when she looked back down at the street. "They can't all be close to the front."

"What?" Rodney asked as Jennifer walked past him and headed out to the corridor. Warrington's post was right over the front door.

"Sergeant, what's out front?" She asked as she approached him.

The big man from Bermuda walked up the corridor and looked down. "Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? There were a lot of them headed toward the front of the building. Unless I'm deaf, no one fired at them from downstairs," Jennifer said as she hurried over to look with him.

The dirt street was deserted. No creatures were in front of the building, along the side of the street nor as far back as their eyes could see in the moonlight.

Sheppard's voice preceded him up the stairs. "They seem to have fallen back."

"Or they're regrouping for the next attack," Rodney said.

"Always the optimist, McKay," John said glancing at Jennifer as if to say, _you can't possibly like him._

"I'd say he's more of a realist," Jennifer said smiling sweetly at Rodney as she squeezed his arm. Rodney's grin and Sheppard's confused expression was the last thing she saw as she walked past them into the room. "I need to check on my patient."

**

* * *

A/N: Absolutely love **_**Alien**_** and **_**Aliens**_**, the best monster/horror movies ever. No, James Cameron did not pay me!**

**Heading on vacation for a few days, so might not get anything new until the weekend.**


	11. Waiting for Daybreak

** MGM owns all characters except OC.**

**Thanks you for the wonderful reviews and Scr1. Sorry for the hiatus, but family vacations do trump writing. I did sneak in some as you can see.**

* * *

Within the hour, everyone fell back to the second floor after Richards set up grenades and C4 on the doors and windows of the first floor in case they were attacked. The last couple of flash-bangs that Roberts and Warrington had were set at the bottom of the stairs, so the men on the second level would be able to fire down on the creatures in the smoke below.

It was determined, through a brief assessment, that the staircase could _probably_ be destroyed without collapsing the upper floor. Rants about not being a structural engineer from Rodney were met by comparisons between Jennifer's favorite Star Trek character, Doctor McCoy, and the astrophysicist by Sheppard. Gunny Richards took Rodney's half-hearted endorsement for fact and set his last C4 on the stairwell supports and had the genius rig a remote detonator.

Jennifer was tending to Wagner when Warrington, Sheppard, Lorne and McKay entered the room. "The others pull guard duty?" Jennifer asked as she finished changing yet another IV on the injured man.

"Richards won't let Roberts out of his sight and Ronon is bored and wants to shoot something, so yes, they are at the top of the stairs," Sheppard said as he sat next to Wagner on the man's right. Jennifer knelt next to his left side along with her equipment and a lantern they allowed her to light. Hunger and thirst were beginning to make her feel slightly light-headed as she shook her head briefly to clear the feeling, so she could concentrate on Wagner.

Major Lorne and Warrington sat near the door to the corridor and pulled out some power bars and water. Rodney sat between her and the doorway to the room where the equipment he cobbled together was sending out Morse code.

"Did you guys get any sleep?" Jennifer asked as she took the bottle of water that materialized next to her. Looking at Rodney, who had obviously put it there, she flashed a quick smile at the tired-looking scientist. _He realized I needed a drink without asking?_

Jennifer noticed the Colonel looked at Rodney with raised eyebrows and she knew Sheppard was harassing the physicist for what he _thought_ transpired between them. Unfortunately for Rodney, if Sheppard knew what really happened, the abuse would be worse, so Jennifer could not help him. The physician sat against the wall next to Rodney but not close enough to touch him. Closing her eyes for a minute, she listened to the sounds of the constant code being sent in the next room, breathing and shifting of weapons and bodies in the room, no other sounds could be heard from inside or outside.

"A little," John said wearily pulling a power bar from his Tac vest and looking again at Wagner. "How long's he got, Doc?"

"If the jumpers arrive right as expected," Jennifer paused, "he should be okay. If they are delayed by an hour or two, we'll have to do the transfusion here."

"Well, the dial in will be due," the Colonel looked at his watch, "in three hours when daylight arrives here. If they get the message, they'll send jumpers and medical staff, right Rodney?"

"Assuming Doctor McKay remembered his Morse code," Lorne said from near the door.

Jennifer turned to glare at the Major. "Do you know your Morse code, Major?" _Wow, I've really fallen for Rodney fast if I'm getting this angry all the time. I don't ever remember being this infatuated with someone after a day before. Maybe this is just the adrenaline rush_

"A little. Can't make out most of what's going out though," the Major said, oblivious to her angry look when he questioned Rodney's abilities.

"It says: Send Jumpers. Men down. No DHD," Rodney explained angrily, like he was talking to a bratty child with a slow, angry voice.

"Let's hope it does," John said shooting Rodney a look.

"Can I ask a stupid question? I know I'm new to the program, but the SGC had been fiddling with the Stargate for years before they even got Doctor Jackson on board to translate the hieroglyphs," Jennifer said. "Isn't it time a portable DHD was developed and issued to every gate team?"

"Well the MALP ensures there's a DHD on the other side," the Colonel started to be cut off by Rodney.

"A portable DHD would be too large and would not work at the same efficiency as the real thing," Rodney chimed in. "The gate at Cheyenne Mountain has a computer instead of the DHD and it…"

"And it's ignoring half the data the gate sends," Jennifer said with a smile directed at the stunned physicist. "I read all the SG1 logs and everything I could on Stargates before I stepped foot in one. I was not going to be demolecularized if I couldn't understand the process."

"You… really? All the papers?" Rodney asked looking stunned.

"Yes and I must say yours are the best. Extremely thorough," Jennifer said and she could see him puffing himself up. "Even if they are really dry and, I must say, helped my insomnia when I read them."

Laughter erupted from Lorne and Sheppard as Rodney's chest lost the air he sucked in. Jennifer smiled and reached over to lightly touch his arm. "Just kidding. I was so excited to learn about everything that I couldn't sleep for days. I was worse than a kid on Christmas morning. None of your work put me to sleep. I swear."

"Oh, that'll go away once you get to know him better," John said looking at the two of them closely.

Before Jennifer could snap at the Colonel, a piercing howl unlike anything she had ever heard before caused all of them to jump and reach for weapons. Sheppard leaped to his feet and headed into the corridor to view the front of the building and the left side. Lorne headed into the other room to see the rear of the building and Jennifer and Rodney got onto their knees to look out the window in the room, clutching their P90s and breathing hard.

No movement could be seen in the moonlight, but the sounds were close by. Jennifer tried to force her eyes to pierce the gloom and wished for the night vision goggles the soldiers wore._ I guess I need those in my survival pack, too._

"They seem to be staying away from the building," Rodney whispered so close to her ear that she jumped and bumped into him. "Sorry to startle you."

"Didn't realize you were on top of me," Jennifer said glancing at his face inches from her own. "So to speak."

"I think you and I need to have a long…" Rodney started with a grin.

"Conversation when we get back?" Jennifer finished with a grin. It amazed her that she could be so terrified with sweaty palms, racing heart and heavy, shallow breathing, and still be able to flirt with this man.

"Yeah, that's what I was gonna say," he said with a sly grin.

"I think we should put out the light," Jennifer said realizing the light would mess up the soldiers' goggles.

"Good idea," Rodney said. "I'll do it."

The feel of his presence left her for a few seconds causing her to shiver from the cold and her fear. When he returned, he knelt near her, so close, their shoulders touched. Somehow contact with him calmed her immensely as the howling turned to shrieking and then a strange repetitive sound that reminded Jennifer of language.

"Sounds like they are calling in reinforcements," Rodney said quietly.

"Great minds think alike because I had the same thought," Jennifer said with a smile in her voice.

"Any movement on this side?" The voice of Gunny Richards sounded from behind them.

Jennifer turned and saw the big Marine with night vision goggles standing behind them. "Nothing. Rodney and I think they might be capable of communication."

"Had the same thought," Richards said looking at Wagner. "Doctor Keller, I realize what you are going to say before I ask, but Wagner might need to be moved. Can you get him ready?"

"If we move him, we'll kill him," Jennifer said even though Gunny asked her not to.

"I realize that, Doctor Keller, but I need to know he's ready to go if they attack and we need to fall back," Richards said.

"Fall back, where?" Jennifer asked. "We can't jump with him."

"I've put a few things in place to help us get out of here if we need to," Gunny said.

"What kind of things?" Jennifer said swallowing hard. "Please don't tell me we have to scale buildings or something. I'm not real _fond_ of heights."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine," he said as he left her and Rodney.

"Don't look at me, I can't deal with heights, either," Rodney said next to here. The moonlight on his face revealed he was smiling once again.

* * *

Time seemed to drag on as the noises from the creatures grew louder and then faded away. They were never visible, but they did scratch their claws onto the stone of the buildings nearby. The noises left everyone on edge inside the building. Jennifer felt like she was going to cry at one moment and wanted to shoot something the next. Then she had to deal with Wagner, who seemed to be going into shock. After wrapping him with blankets and giving him another IV, she realized the transfusion would need to be done.

"I need to get Roberts," she said to Rodney, who had maintained a vigil at the window. He had been given night vision goggles from Warrington who was left guarding the entryway into their room and had been giving her a rundown on what the creatures were doing.

"It's like something drives them back," Rodney said apparently not hearing her. As she got up to leave, he quickly yelled at her, "Where are you going?"

"I told you I need to get Roberts," Jennifer said.

"I'll get him, ma'am," Warrington said.

"Thank you, Sergeant," Jennifer said returning to prepare for the transfusion. She had her equipment and already prepped a place on Wagner's right arm, which was not as torn apart as his left.

"I wonder," Rodney snapped his fingers and jumped up. He paused before he left the room, "Oh, yeah. Can you look for a minute?"

"What?" Jennifer said as he handed her his night vision goggles.

"Just tell me if you see anything different," Rodney said. It was dark once again because the moon was behind some clouds, which meant she could not see his face.

"What are you doing?" Jennifer asked him as she adjusted the strap on her goggles.

"You realize, I'm going to be weak from giving blood," Roberts whined behind her as he entered the room.

"Just get in there," Sheppard said roughly.

"There's gotta be someone else," Roberts said as all hell broke loose outside.

Jennifer saw creatures emerging from the buildings all along the side of the meetinghouse. "What did you do, Rodney!" She screamed as she heard gunfire from the corridor.

Sheppard and Roberts immediately flanked her at the window and opened fire with their P90s. Jennifer started shooting as well, only to see the creatures race away from the building as quickly as they rushed it.

"Okay, McKay…" Sheppard started angrily.

Jennifer had her goggles on so she saw Rodney appear with a grin on his face in the eerie green light. He had obviously had an idea and no one was going to stop him.

"What the hell just happened?" Lorne could be heard from the corridor.

"It's the Morse code," Jennifer said as it clicked in place in her head. _The creatures stopped their attack when Rodney turned it on._ She saw him look crestfallen that she broke the news.

"It drives them away?" Sheppard said sounding surprised.

"It appears so." Rodney walked in and held out his hands for the goggles Jennifer was wearing, disappointment at not breaking the news to everyone on his face.

"Sorry," she said quietly as she handed him the goggles letting their hands touch a moment.

"Do I really need to do this?" Roberts asked once again now that the action was over.

"You and the doc are the only ones with the matching blood type and she can't donate," Sheppard said.

"Why not?" The young Sergeant said. "She's not mission-critical like us soldiers."

"You just earned yourself the biggest ass-kicking I've ever given anyone when we get back." Richard's angry voice came from behind the young man and caused everyone to jump. "You and me in the gym before we throw your sorry ass through the Stargate. Hopefully, someone will have dialed Earth. I don't care whom you're related to, General O'Neill will have your discharge papers waiting for you before you get down the ramp at Stargate Command. It is the duty of every soldier to donate blood to a fallen comrade. For you to even question it means you are the worst excuse for a soldier I ever met. "

Jennifer felt the tension in the room. She heard several people audibly swallow. A light came on to her right as Sheppard apparently turned the lantern back on.

"Better get this over soon," John said as he glared at the young man, who looked white as a ghost.

* * *

Roberts fell to his knees next to his wounded comrade and started removing his vest and jacket like he was a drone. Jennifer sat next to him and did not say a word as she thought about what would happen to Roberts when he gets back to Earth._ Gunny isn't the only one he needs to be concerned about._

The transfusion took a long time and Jennifer and Roberts were both very tired when it was over. The young Marine had to lie down for a while and took an IV to help boost his strength. Jennifer rose to her feet after being on her knees for a couple of hours.

"You need to sleep for a couple days when you get back," Rodney said wearily from his post at the window. The sun was barely risen and its light was already reflecting off the mountainside nearest the village.

"Tell me about it. I don't think I'll be heading off world for a while," Jennifer said as she took the water bottle he held out to her. "Atlantis should be dialing soon, right?"

"Probably already have if they follow procedure," Rodney said.

Jennifer was tired, so it took her a moment to realize the sunlight _reflected_ off something. "Rodney, do you have binoculars?"

"Sure, why?" He asked looking out the window.

"I saw something shiny on the hillside," Jennifer said pointing to the mountain east of the village, away from the Stargate.

Rodney raised the small binoculars he pulled out of his tac vest and exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

"What is it?" Jennifer asked as she strained to see.

Rodney got up and rushed into the corridor shouting, "Sheppard, you gotta see this."

"See what? Hey, I noticed it first," Jennifer said as she realized that she sounded childish.

"Here," Rodney shoved the binoculars into her hand. "It's a wraith ship."

"Wraith?" Jennifer, John and Lorne all said at the same time. Lorne and Sheppard had their binoculars out and Jennifer joined the soldiers looking at the ship near the ridge of the mountain.

"It doesn't look like the pictures I've seen of Hive ships. It looks round on top," Jennifer said. The room was lit by the brightness of the sun rising in the sky, so she could see Sheppard, Lorne and Rodney clearly. All of the men had looks of confusion on their faces.

"No, I don't think it's a Hive ship," Rodney said as he took the binoculars back.

"How long has it been since anyone stepped foot on this planet?" Jennifer asked. "The trees on the hillside appeared to have been knocked over quite a while ago. The leaves have all died on them."

"It's been at least nine months," the Major said. "My team was the last one here."

"They always used their IDC when dialing?" Jennifer asked. By the looks Sheppard and McKay were exchanging, they thought the same thing she did.

"This could be some kind of Wraith experiment," Rodney said as his voice rose an octave.

_Uh-oh, panicking again._ Jennifer moved closer to the scientist and looked up into his face hoping to calm him with her words and actions because kissing him in front of these guys was out of the question.

"Did I hear someone say Wraith?" Ronon said from behind.

"Looks like some type of ship," Sheppard said as he gave the Satedan his binoculars. "Ever seen anything like it?"

"Maybe the villagers were mutated by something they released into the air," Rodney was continuing to spiral out of control. "Maybe the missing men already transformed that's why the DHD is broken. They were trying to dial and…"

"Rodney, calm down." Jennifer moved closer and fought the urge to grab his vest again.

"I've been starting to feel a little weird. Light-headed, weak, unable to keep my concentration," Rodney started spouting off symptoms as he stared at Jennifer with a look of terror on his face. "We could be…"

Jennifer finally relented and grabbed his upper arms. "Because you are feeling exhausted, stressed out and hungry."

"Uh… Yeah… I guess so," Rodney said a little quieter.

"I saw black blood on the glass in the communications building," Jennifer said.

"So?" Rodney looked confused as he took some deep breaths.

_At least he's trying to calm himself._ Jennifer continued, "Black like a Wraith. These things are similar to Wraith, it would seem."

"So the Wraith let them lose here to kill the people?" John asked.

Jennifer looked away from Rodney and reluctantly removed her hands from his arms. "Ronon, have you ever heard of creatures being used to hunt humans?"

"No." Ronon continued to look at the ship on the hillside.

"Could the ship cause the interference?" Jennifer asked looking back at Rodney.

"Never ran into Wraith technology that could interfere with Ancient before," Rodney said. "But it's not impossible."

"The Wraith do have a telepathic component that could interfere with the neural interface, in theory," Jennifer said as her mind was racing through what she read about the Wraith and Ancient/human interfaces.

"But the radios?" Lorne asked.

"Radios are simple to interfere with…" Rodney began only to stop speaking as something else entered the horizon.

"Oh, thank God," Jennifer said as she saw a jumper sailing over the trees. The smile on her face faded however as the jumper suddenly hit the tops of a couple trees and then dropped like a stone onto the ground outside of the settlement in the field. Far enough away that the Morse code should not bother the creatures. "Oh no! We've got to warn them not to get out of the jumper. Those creatures are all around."

"Rodney, get a new message going," Sheppard yelled as Rodney ran next door.

"I'm on it," Rodney said.

Jennifer ran to the front window where she could see the jumper from a better angle. Praying that no one else was harmed, she gripped her P90, which she still held, tightly. _Please let them listen to the Morse code and stay in the jumper. Hurry with the message Rodney._

Ignoring Jennifer's wishes, the jumper ramp came down and two Marines exited taking position on either side. She felt like she was watching a horror movie unfold before her eyes. "No," she whispered.

"They'll see them," Richards said. "Yamamoto and Saxon are good."

As if to prove Gunny correct, gunfire erupted from the two Marines, as some of the creatures could be scene moving away from the buildings toward the downed jumper.

"Um, can the hatch be _closed_ manually?" Jennifer asked as she looked at Gunny.

**TBC  


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**A/N: I know it is a terrible place to stop, but I've got a reputation to uphold. Can't remember the color of Wraith blood. Couldn't quickly find an episode with a bleeding Wraith.**


	12. Jumper Down

**MGM owns all characters except OC.**

**Thanks you for the wonderful reviews and Scr1 and dwparnsip for beta. Sorry for the hiatus but had to get some chapters on another story going. Got a lot of stories going, so it takes time to get to them all.**

* * *

"Got the message updated. Added one back to Atlantis saying, _don't send anyone else right now_," Rodney said coming up behind them as they watched the jumper in the field in front of them.

It appeared the hatch did not close as easily as Jennifer hoped it would because the Marines were still outside when a third Marine appeared on the ramp and another person could be seen moving around inside the jumper.

"They won't have a chance of finding the bypass," Rodney said.

"Can you not be such a negative person?" John asked and by the tone of his voice he did not really want an answer.

"It's better to be honest about things…" Rodney started only to stop as they saw a creature jump on top of the jumper.

"We've gotta warn them, Rodney," Jennifer cried and the physicist ran back to the radio, but it was too late.

The creature leaped off the top onto one of the Marines standing beside the jumper. Jennifer felt the Marines around her tense. It was obvious from the distance that the creature's claws nearly decapitated the man before the gunfire from the Marine on the ramp killed it. The ramp began to slowly retract, as another figure appeared trying to go to the injured man. The Marine held his arm and forced him back inside.

"Doctor Beckett?" Jennifer gasped.

Once the ramp closed, creatures ran at the jumper and began to tear at the Marine on the ground. Groaning in disgust, Jennifer turned from the window fighting back tears.

"What are those thing, ma'am?" Warrington asked with sadness in his deep voice.

"We think they are some kind of experiment gone bad," Rodney said as he rejoined them in the corridor. "Hopefully, the people in the jumper can understand Morse code."

"Stackhouse is flying, so he'll know what it says," Sheppard said, his voice laced with anger.

"Gunny?" Jennifer paused next to the older Marine. His jaw was clenched, but other than that he looked as professional as he always did. "Who…"

"Lieutenant Noah Saxon," Richards said as he continued to stare out the window. "Was there talk about a Wraith ship before?" He looked at Jennifer and then Rodney.

"Jennifer saw something on the mountain above the village. We never would have seen it from the ground," Rodney said. "Definitely Wraith and by the looks of it, it's been here a little while."

"So the Wraith came here, mutated the people and then what?" Richards asked without any sarcasm in his voice. He was stating what they knew so far.

"I don't know if they mutated the people, but these creatures didn't kill them. We've seen firsthand how they treat their victims. I can't believe they didn't tear Wagner apart, but other than him…" Jennifer trailed off she did not want to finish that statement.

"He was bait," Richards said.

"What?" Rodney exclaimed.

"They were in the woods waiting for us to go to him," the Marine said looking from Jennifer to McKay.

"Are you certain?" John asked.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

"They are intelligent, somewhat, then," Lorne added.

"So," Jennifer started pacing as she thought through what they knew and what she speculated. "The villagers had a Wraith ship land here at least fiver or six months ago and continued to dial Atlantis until the last two months? If the Wraith came here to mutate them, then for what ends? Did they want to make an army of these things? Were they waiting for unsuspecting folks to come through the gate?"

"The gate!" Rodney snapped his fingers and ran to get his laptop.

"What about the gate?" Jennifer followed him with the officers and Richards on her heals. Warrington and Roberts, who was still weak, stayed in the corridor watching for any movement at the Jumper. Ronon had remained in the room with Wagner once the creature attacked one of the soldiers. Jennifer imagined it was because he could do nothing to help.

"When we came through the gate, my scanner had a weird reading then went dead," Rodney plugged his scanner into his laptop and his fingers started flying over keys and the screen as Jennifer stood close beside him looking over his shoulder.

"So the gate might have activated the interference? Perhaps it was a signal to the creatures or even released them?" Jennifer's mind worked just as fast as Rodney's. Even though she could not read all the data flooding the tablet's screen, she figured he was looking through the captured data for a sudden energy reading. The glare he shot her told the physician that she had stolen his thunder once again.

"Sorry." She leaned close and whispered near his ear.

"Is that possible, McKay?" Lorne asked with a bit of a grin forming.

Taking a big sigh and shaking his head slightly at her, the Head of Science turned to the others and said, "Yes, it's a theory I was looking into."

"What are you looking for on your tablet?" Sheppard asked as he stood close to Jennifer and Rodney.

"He's looking for some unusual reading or something related to the signal would be my guess," Jennifer said as she got an annoyed _huffing_ sound from Rodney.

"Do you want to do this?" Rodney barked at her.

"Hey, two geniuses are better than one," Sheppard interjected. "Besides, she's nicer on the eyes."

"Don't you go to some mandatory sexual harassment training or something like that every year?" Jennifer asked as she crossed her arms and glared at the Colonel.

"Yes and saying someone is _pretty_ is hardly harassment," he shot back.

"All right, enough already," McKay said pulling his laptop to his chest. "I need to figure out what's going on out there and the battery on the laptop is almost empty, so less interrupting."

"Colonel," Warrington called from the corridor. "I think you need to see this."

Everyone including Rodney and Ronon went to the corridor and saw several creatures on the roof on the jumper and a couple trying to smash the windshield and pull the hatch open.

"We've gotta do something." Jennifer stated the obvious. "I know you're trying to figure out the interference Rodney, but they can't stay in that jumper forever."

"And we can't stay here," John said. "Rodney, do you think you could figure a way to power the jumper and maneuver it without the neural interface?"

"In a week, maybe," he said angrily. "Listen, we're good here with the Morse code on the radio. The creatures can't get into the jumper. Let me finish my investigating…"

"We don't have time," John said. "Elizabeth will eventually send more people through that gate and I don't want them torn to pieces like everyone who's dead around here."

His voice got angrier as he spoke and Jennifer could feel his sense of helplessness and suddenly had an idea. "The Morse code. Rodney, we can just carry the radio with us, get to the jumper and then figure things out. The jumper won't be able to be breached by the creatures, but this building can be. How long is the battery pack on the radio going to last?"

"Ah!" Rodney turned and ran to the radio. "I forgot it would run continuously, so I didn't monitor it."

"McKay!" Sheppard barked. "How much time?"

"Oh crap! Twenty minutes," Rodney said as his voice rose in pitch. "We're screwed again."

"No, the walk to the jumper shouldn't take that long. We have the make-shift stretcher for Wagner already here," Jennifer began.

"And I can remove the charges quickly, sir," Richards said.

"All right, great idea, Doctor Keller," Sheppard said and his voice held true admiration.

Her eyes connected with his hazel ones and a smile spread over her lips. "Thanks, Colonel."

"Get your patient ready," he said as he turned to Lorne to discuss how they would move out.

"You realize we're totally screwed if the battery monitor is not calibrated properly? We could get out there and it'll fail immediately," Rodney said as he grabbed his backpack from the window where they stood vigil earlier.

"Rodney." Jennifer, who knelt beside Wagner, got up to stand in front of him. Lorne and Richards had gone downstairs to deal with the explosives, while Sheppard and Ronon got their weapons squared away in the corridor. "Can't you power it with something else to make sure we make it?"

"Where am I getting this extra power?" Rodney barked as he carefully moved the radio into the rucksack that Gunny carried it in.

Jennifer's eyes fell on his tablet and snapped her own fingers, which made Rodney look up. "You can't be the only one with this habit. How about a computer battery?"

"A computer battery that would never… Wait a minute. I put a special adaptor on the tablets to power panels on a jumper after I got stuck on the bottom of the ocean in one," Rodney grabbed his laptop.

"No, use mine," Jennifer yelled as she went to find her backpack and returned with her computer. "Yours has data on it we need."

"Thanks," Rodney smiled. "Listen, I'm sorry I've been snapping at you."

"No need," Jennifer smiled back. "I know you'll make it up to me."

She went back to get Wagner tied onto the stretcher to be moved. When she grabbed her backpack, it was much lighter without her computer, so she went back to Rodney. "Can I carry anything? I imagine the radio will be very heavy and you'll probably want to keep it for safekeeping?"

Before Rodney could answer, Sheppard returned with the others. "Here's how this will go. We need to move quickly because McKay says we've got…"

"We've got some extra time," Rodney said sounding smug.

"McKay, if you pulled one of your _I've got more power than I thought routines today_ I will…"

"I gave him my laptop battery, so he _now_ has more power. He didn't have enough when he first said it." Jennifer jumped right in to save Rodney from another lecture. _Sheppard really does piss me off. I can't believe Rodney puts up with him._

"Do you want to be on a gate team?" Lorne asked. "I could use a genius."

"Funny," McKay said as he glared at the Major.

"Let's focus people," John said. "Roberts you're on point with Ronon. I know you're still weak from the blood donation, but everyone needs to do his or her part. Lorne and I will carry Wagner, with Doctor Keller close by, Rodney and Warrington after us and Gunny on our six. We move as quickly as possible. Keep your eyes peeled and be ready for anything."

Everyone in the room glanced around. Jennifer's eyes settled on Rodney's face, which had its expression of barely controlled terror etched on his handsome features. Trying to smile and reassure him, Jennifer maintained eye contact for what felt like a long time. _He needs to remain calm. I need to remain calm. _The thought that they were leaving the security of the building to walk down the street and into the field to the jumper with those things surrounding them was terrifying. She felt her heart racing and her breathing was speeding up as well. _Deep breathes. The radio will keep them away. You gave Rodney more power to work with; he'll make sure you're all safe._

**TBC**

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A/N: I know more cliffhangers. **


	13. A Casual Stroll

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N:Thank you for the wonderful reviews and Scr1 and betherdy babe for beta and assistance. Thank you for your military knowledge, starclipper01, this chapter is mostly for you!**

**Sorry for long hiatus. Got 3 stories going at once and it takes its toll.  
**

* * *

"Pardon me, Colonel," Richards said from behind Jennifer. "Doctor Keller, do you have a moment?"

"Of course, Gunny." She noticed Rodney raising an eyebrow and smiled at him reassuringly. _Richards must be concerned about me._

"What's up, Master Gunny?" Sheppard asked as Jennifer joined the men and walked into the adjacent room.

"Doctor Keller, is Sergeant Roberts strong enough to carry a stretcher?" he asked.

"I gave him my last two power bars and plenty of water after the transfusion. I also gave him a sugar solution, so he should have some strength back," she said looking at the two men.

"Thanks for the insight, Gunny," Sheppard said and turned back to the other room.

"What was that about?" Jennifer asked the Sergeant.

"Sheppard shouldn't have to be tied to a stretcher because Roberts is unfit to be called a Marine plus he's our commander and he can't make life or death decisions for us if he's carrying a wounded man. Anyone can be a stretcher bearer, Doctor Keller, but there's only one commanding officer," Richards explained and then nodded for her to proceed him out of the room.

* * *

"I'll do it, sir," Sergeant Warrington was saying as Jennifer and Richards reentered the corridor. "My injuries are minor, sir. I'll help carry Wagner."

"You did this!" Roberts yelled at Jennifer when she returned.

"Roberts, downstairs with me, now!" Barked Richards at the young soldier, who was angrily pointing at Jennifer. It was obvious Roberts was upset with his new assignment.

"I just gave blood, how am I supposed to…" He started to be cut off by Warrington.

"You and I have stretcher duty so shut the hell up. The Colonel and the Major can't be tied down because you're a sorry excuse for a Marine," Warrington continued.

Jennifer saw Sheppard and Lorne raise their eyebrows. _Uh-oh, he's going to get in trouble._ The young doctor really liked the big Sergeant from Bermuda and did not want him to get into trouble.

"You're such a kiss…" Roberts' insult was cut off as Warrington's fist connected with the other man's jaw.

Warrington turned to Lorne, Sheppard and Richards, nodding at each in turn as he said, "Sorry, sirs, Master Gunny, I'll take whatever punishment you feel is fitting for striking a fellow soldier."

"Sergeant Warrington, I'm going to give you an Article 15: confinement to quarters and extra duty, when we return," Sheppard said glancing at Lorne who nodded.

"Understood, sir," Warrington said and turned to gather his gear.

Richards walked past Warrington and stood in front of Roberts, who was rubbing his jaw. "Downstairs now!"

Jennifer glanced at Rodney after the altercation between the soldiers and saw a strained smile on his face. _The stress is getting to everyone. We need to get out of here. _"Major Lorne?"

"Sorry you had to witness that, Doctor Keller. Everyone is really strung out around here and we never had anyone who complained about direct orders in the _military_ so much before," Lorne said glancing at McKay obviously implying that Rodney complained all the time.

"How much trouble is he in?" Jennifer asked, afraid that she was somehow the cause of this because of her advisement that Roberts was strong enough to help.

"Warrington's not in a lot of trouble, but it will go on his record," the Major said.

"So he won't face a court-martial?" Jennifer asked.

"No, but Roberts' will. Not sure if the Colonel will get him for insubordinate conduct toward a non-commissioned officer or failure to obey an order. Either way, Robert's career in the SGC is over," the Major explained. "I need to go. You two better get ready."

* * *

Five minutes later, Rodney was back at her side as they waited for the charges to be removed downstairs. "Jennifer?"

"Yes," she said as she pulled on her backpack after securing Wagner to the makeshift stretcher for transport.

"I want you to have this. It's the remote for the jumper door," Rodney said as he pulled a small object, smaller than a TV remote, from his vest.

"Why do you want me to have it?" Jennifer raised her eyebrows as she looked at the astrophysicist. _Why wouldn't he keep it?_

"Since we'll be approaching the jumper from behind, they won't know we're coming. If… Well, if something… You know, if something happens, you can get in," Rodney said rapidly and glanced around as if concerned someone was watching their interchange.

Jennifer smiled. "Thanks, but you really shouldn't have."

"It doesn't mean we're going steady or anything," Rodney said with a slight smile.

"I should at least learn your first name before we do that," Jennifer said with laughter in her voice. "Sorry, I'm getting silly from all the pressure and constant fear. I feel like I'm living through a scene in _Aliens_ where Hicks gives Ripley the tracking device, so he can keep track of where she is. I really love that movie, but never wanted to _live_ it."

"I love it, too, but," Rodney said with a look of disgust on his face, "I just can't watch…"

"..the aliens hatching out of people's stomach." Jennifer finished his sentence with a smile. "Me either. At least I know when it's going to happen now, so I always look away."

"Maybe we can watch it sometime?" Rodney asked sheepishly.

"Sure, but not on the first date," Jennifer replied with a smile as she took the remote from Rodney and stuck it in her jacket pocket.

"Oh…" Rodney looked surprised and stammered. "Uh…Ah, of course not. I wouldn't suggest a horror movie as a first date. That wouldn't be much fun."

"It's fine Rodney," Jennifer said as she briefly touched his forearm. "I don't care what we do. I just wanted to have a few reasons for us to have _more_ than one date." Jennifer turned quickly leaving a stunned Rodney staring after her. _I've never been this bold before. What is it about him that makes me say what I'm thinking without any filters? Is it just the intensity of the situation?_

* * *

They were ready to leave the security of the building once the scientists got downstairs. Ronon was on point, Warrington and Roberts followed with the stretcher, Jennifer, who was flanked by Rodney and Lorne, was close by, Sheppard and Richards on their six.

The astrophysicist was clutching the pack with the Morse code transmitter under one arm as if it was a precious baby and held his handgun in his other hand. Jennifer found herself looking past him into the buildings and alleyways for anything that moved. _If something comes at Rodney, I gotta be ready. _Clutching her P90 tightly, she tried to focus on the gun in her hands and scan the surrounding area for the creatures. _Don't think about how exposed you are out here. The soldiers will protect you. But who will protect them? _Jennifer's mind was getting too busy and she needed to try and focus on putting one foot in front of the other and taking careful aim should she need to shoot at something.

As they got further from the meetinghouse, Jennifer noticed movement behind buildings and in the tree line._ It appeared the creatures were getting closer._ She could see bipedal, black creatures with long arms that ended in claws. When they started howling, she noticed Rodney jump. Realizing he only had a hand gun, Jennifer moved around him so she was between him and the buildings.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rodney growled.

"How long have you been shooting? Since you got here three years ago, I bet?" Jennifer asked glancing up at him and then quickly looking back at the creatures. It appeared they started howling when they got close enough to the noise for it to affect them.

"Doctor Keller, what are you doing?" Colonel Sheppard hissed as he came up on her right side between her and the creatures.

"I've been shooting since I was twelve, Colonel. Rodney's got a hand gun, so he's not going to be able to do much if he needs to protect himself and that device is saving all our buts," Jennifer said.

"You have a serious problem following orders!" John barked as he continued to scan the buildings and trees behind them.

"You didn't give me any orders, _Colonel_." Jennifer was terrified, but still managed to get her temper going.

"Sheppard!" Ronon yelled drawing everyone's attention to a creature that had leapt off a building in front of them, blocking the way to the jumper.

"Don't worry. As soon as I get closer, he'll move," Rodney shouted at the same time Ronon shot it. "Or you could just kill it." The Satedan's powerful gun knocked the creature backwards and Lorne finished it off with his P90.

"Let's pick up the pace," Sheppard said as he walked slightly ahead of Jennifer to talk with Rodney.

Jennifer's grip on the P90 tightened as she heard shots fired from Ronon and Sheppard in front of her and Lorne and Gunny slightly behind her. The soldiers spread out around the stretcher-bearers. Realizing that she should probably shoot at something, she lifted the gun up and shot a creature that moved between two houses in front of her.

An exceptionally loud round of howling caused the hairs on Jennifer's neck to stand up. More gunfire erupted around her as she began to feel real fear. Looking at Rodney and John, she noted they had moved several feet away from her. Turning her back on the buildings to her right, she moved quickly toward them.

Something slammed into her as soon as she began to move and drove her into the ground. A scream escaped from her as she felt something stab through her upper left shoulder and slice her upper right arm. Her face was shoved into the dirt and she could hear little except for the howling of the creature that was standing or sitting on her waiting to tear her to pieces.

_Dad!_ Jennifer felt tears run unchecked down her face as the pressure upon her upper body remained constant and threatened to crush the air out of her chest. The howling had let up to be replaced with gunfire. As she felt her consciousness fading, she became aware of the little things, the P90 clutched in her hands and now pressed into her stomach and chest, the taste of blood mixed with dirt in her mouth, the ringing and pounding of gunfire around her. Odd thoughts began to race through her head._ How useless knowing how to use a weapon when you turn your back on the enemy! My uncle will kill me if I survive this. I hope they get my body back to Dad. Too bad Rodney gave me the door opener. I hope they can get in the jumper now.  
_

As the weight upon her shifted, the pain in her upper body returned with a vengeance. Screaming as the creature's claws were pulled out of her body, Jennifer felt herself teetering on the brink of oblivion.

"Jennifer! Jennifer! Oh God, Jennifer!"

She heard a voice screaming and then felt someone rolling her over. Since her head hurt so much, she did not open her eyes. _They must have killed it._

Jennifer tried to speak, tried to grab onto something to anchor her to life, but no sounds but some moaning came out and her arms burned and throbbed, which did not allow for movement. _I wonder if it punctured an artery to my heart. Weird, I thought you stop feeling things when you are dying, it still hurts like hell. _

"Look at the blood! She's bleeding to death!" Rodney's voice was the last thing she heard as darkness descended on her.

* * *

**A/N: Happy Halloween Rodney and Jennifer! I know, take forever to publish and leave the story like this, but I know you will happily wait for the next installment.**


	14. Sheppard Was Right?

**MGM owns all characters.**

**Thanks to Scr1 and Betherdy Babe for beta.**

**A/N: Just reminding folks this is Jennifer's POV. Interesting stuff will happen, but she won't witness it. I'm forcing myself to stay with Jennifer.**

* * *

"Carson, what the hell are you doing? You can't take her clothes off!" Rodney's voice said loudly from above Jennifer.

"I don't tell you how to fix things; don't tell me how to treat my patients. She's bleeding and the cuts are under her shirt and jacket, so they have to come off," Carson snapped and sounded closer than the physicist. Jennifer moaned as a stab of pain went through her upper right arm when she tried to swat at an annoying object, which was stinging her left arm.

"You're hurting her!" Rodney's voice sounded closer than before.

"Rodney! Do you mind? Of course she's in pain. Something tried to tear her apart!" Carson snapped.

"Doctor McKay," Richards' voice came from Jennifer's feet. "If you get the jumper going, we'll be able to get her back to the infirmary on Atlantis and Doctor Beckett will be able to take care of her better. I'll have the boys put up some blankets so Doctor Beckett can treat her with a little privacy."

Jennifer felt something tugging at her sleeves and once again tried to reach across her body with her right hand only to find the pain too much. Crying out again, she dropped her arm on her chest.

"Major Lorne, I know you have emergency medical training, can you assist me? Someone is going to have to hold her down. Cutting through her jacket is going to cause some discomfort," Carson said.

"_Some_ discomfort! Why don't you give her something for the pain!" Rodney said loudly. "And Lorne! He's a pilot, not a doctor!"

"Could someone please get him out of here? I can't concentrate if he's going to question everything," Carson snapped.

"I realize the attacks on Doctor Keller and Wagner has everyone shaken up, but we need to calm down. Carson needs to treat Jennifer. Gunny's got a good idea about the blankets, so Yamamoto and Stackhouse get on it. Radek and _Rodney_," Sheppard's voice cut through the enclosed space as he emphasized the physicist's name, "will try to get some more power in here. The rest of us will grab a seat back here or hang out in the cockpit. Is that clear?"

_Enclosed space? I must be lying on the floor of the jumper._ Jennifer opened her eyes and saw lights on the ceiling and several pairs of legs around her. Glancing to her left, she saw Carson kneeling next to her. She felt so sleepy that she wondered for a second why she was there, but then it came back to her, the intense pressure, the inhuman screams and the stabbing pain. Moaning from the pain in her left arm, she squeezed her eyes shut.

"I'm sorry Doctor Keller," she heard Major Lorne say from her right side. A firm hand suddenly pressed against her right shoulder holding her against the hard deck and the other hand rested on her right hip.

"It's okay," she managed to get out as she clenched her teeth together.

"Jennifer, love, are you with us?" Doctor Beckett's brogue sounded from directly above her. "Can you open your eyes again?"

Jennifer felt Carson move and knew he was going to shine that horrible little light in her eyes when she opened them. "I'd rather not get blinded."

"Well, I see you have your wits about you and that's a good thing, but open those big brown eyes or I'll have to pry them open, love," Carson's soothing voice said, so she complied and looked up into concerned blue eyes. Carson smiled before he shined the light in her eyes.

Blinking and moving her head pulled her right shoulder a bit and the movement caused her to groan through clenched teeth.

"You need to stop moving. I'm really sorry I haven't given you a bigger dose of painkillers, but I just don't know how long we'll be here," her boss explained. "Could I get someone else to assist me?"

"What do you need Doctor Beckett?" Richards said as he stepped around a grey blanket that was put up near her feet.

Jennifer looked up at the big Marine and noticed a lot of blood on his jacket. "Gunny's injured." Her voice sounded weird to her ears, like she had little strength to speak.

"I'm fine, Doctor Keller," Richards said with a smile for her.

"Aye, he carried you here so he's fine," Carson explained and then spoke to Richards, "I need you to hold her legs down."

"I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt," Carson said as he reached behind himself to grab a pair of scissors and once again bent over her arm.

Jennifer knew she had a puzzled expression as she looked at Carson. _Why does he need Gunny to hold my legs down? Oh, he's cutting my clothes off. _Her ability to keep her thoughts straight in her head was diminishing. As Jennifer's eyes drifted shut because it was too much effort to keep them open, she became aware of tugging on her left arm. It got more intense and suddenly pain shot through her as Carson pulled cloth back to expose her wounds. Letting out a scream as she tried to pull her body away from the pain, Jennifer felt pressure from the much stronger men holding her down. Before she passed out once again, she heard Rodney screaming about how he was going to kill Carson.

* * *

Jennifer heard muted voices and the sound of a wrapper being bunched up. _Is it dinnertime?_ At the thought of food, Jennifer felt pain in her stomach. _When's the last time I ate?_ She could not answer that question. Shifting slightly, she felt a dull ache in her chest and arms. The young woman quickly became aware of the fact that she was lying on something hard. Opening her eyes, she saw a figure sitting near her feet in the dim light.

_What happened to the light? _Moving her head, she felt pain in her shoulders. Stifling a moan, she lifted her head slightly and saw several people sitting around on the floor and on the bench across from her. Jennifer remembered that she had been lying on the floor, but did not know how she got onto the bench.

As she looked harder at the figure at her feet, she recognized the man leaning his head against the side of the jumper as Rodney McKay. He was wearing a t-shirt and had his eyes closed. _Considering how quiet it was inside the jumper, everyone must be sleeping._

"Jennifer?" The voice of Carson Beckett came from her right side.

Turning her head toward his face, which was close, caused her some discomfort, but not as much as she remembered feeling earlier. "Did I…"

"Aye, I'm sorry, but I didn't want to use up all the pain medicine…" Carson began.

"He underestimated, like he _always_ does, how much what he does to you can hurt," Rodney growled as she saw him sit up and lean toward her.

"It's okay. I know you needed to stitch me up," Jennifer said.

"Well, the good thing is there was only one really deep cut that needed stitches. I think most of the scratches will heal without too much scaring," Carson said.

"That's good. I'd hate to never be able to wear sleeveless evening gowns again," she said and heard a few chuckles.

"I'm glad you're in good spirits," the Scottish doctor said.

"As long as you have your humor, right?" Jennifer asked smiling.

"Aye," Carson agreed. "Now, my scanners won't work, but it appears you might have a concussion since you got knocked into the ground. I haven't seen any more blood in your mouth, so I'm hoping you just bit yourself when you fell."

"I'm pretty hungry," Jennifer said trying to lift her head up. "Can you help me sit up?"

"I don't want to risk it if you have a concussion," Beckett said.

"Use my scanner, it's working because I used it on Wagner," Jennifer said and then realized the Marine was not lying on the floor. "Where is he?" A cold chill ran through her and Carson glanced at Rodney and then back.

"Jennifer, he…" Rodney started only to have Jennifer shake her head and close her eyes.

"No. No," she cried. _I worked so hard to save him. It's not fair._ She knew it was foolish to think that, but she did. "Please, can someone get me up? I don't want to lie here and stare at the ceiling."

Rodney stood up and moved closer. "Carson?"

"You really should lie down," Carson said.

"Please just use my scanner," Jennifer said. "I know it works."

"Jennifer, Ancient technology doesn't work here because of that interference," Rodney said in a gentle voice like he was talking to a child.

"Yes, it does. Just the neural interface is messed up," Jennifer said more forcefully. "Give me the medical scanner."

"Jennifer…" Rodney shook his head.

"Do it!" Jennifer was getting angry. She did not want to lie around like an invalid and did not think she had a concussion, but knew she needed to prove it._ I'd demand no less of my patients._

"See," Rodney said with his _I-told-you-so_ voice as he held out Jennifer's scanner.

"Of course it doesn't work for you, you have the gene," Jennifer said as he set it in her hand.

The scanner immediately lit up and she moved it slightly causing her breath to hitch. "I am going to be really stiff for a long time."

"How did you do that?" Rodney grabbed it from her.

"You really don't know?" Jennifer said incredulously. _I thought we discussed this?_

"Obviously not," he said.

Jennifer noticed Sheppard and all the others were awake and watching their interchange. _Uh-oh, I'm going to make Rodney look stupid._ Her desire to protect him was very strong, including protecting his pride so she tried to help him out. "Yes, you _do_ know, Rodney, we discussed this back in the village." Jennifer's brown eyes bore into his blue. _Come on, Rodney remember._ "The interference started right when we got here and you couldn't operate your scanner…"

Rodney's eyes widened as he must have remembered the conversation. "That was a _theory_."

"Well, it looks like it's a fact." Jennifer smiled because he remembered their conversation from earlier.

"You mean Sheppard was right?" Rodney groaned shaking his head and closing his eyes. "If I can make the jumper fly without the neural interface we can get out of here?"

Jennifer raised her eyebrows and nodded. "It looks that way. Can someone please help me sit up because this staring up from my back is really getting old?"

"I'll help you," Carson said as he shifted to slide an arm around the middle of her back.

"I'd like to rewind this conversation to the point where McKay said I was right," Sheppard said with a smirk on his face as his teammate turned to him. "So, _Scotty_, is this a case of lying to the Captain to get out of doing your work?"

"I didn't believe…" Rodney started.

"Car…Ahhh," Jennifer groaned in pain as Carson propped her against the wall of the jumper.

"Carson, why didn't you let me do it?" Rodney growled as he moved to sit next to Jennifer. He faced her and said with pride in his voice, "You really _are_ a genius, you know, because that was pretty good detective work. Especially for someone on narcotics."

Everyone laughed in the jumper and Rodney smiled broadly when Jennifer smiled as she felt her face flush. _I'm glad the lights in the jumper are dim._ "Thanks, but I assumed you figured it out too."

"See, folks assume Rodney's a lot smarter than he actually is," Sheppard added as he walked over to stand in front of them. "Two geniuses really are better than one, but three should be incredible." The Colonel turned to look at the small Czech standing in the doorway of the cockpit. Doctor Zelenka audibly swallowed and tried to smile.

"Since I can't use my hands. I don't know how helpful I'll be," Jennifer said looking down and realizing she was wearing a large jacket with blue marks on it. Glancing at the man seated next to her in his t-shirt, she realized Rodney must have put his jacket on her and it made her smile.

"Your brains have been pretty helpful so far, Doctor Keller," Major Lorne said with a smile.

"So, McKay and Zelenka will get the shuttle ready to fly _without_ the neural interface," Sheppard said as he stood staring between the two engineers.

"And if it doesn't work?" Rodney said glaring at John.

"You'll have to go take out the ship," Jennifer said as silence descended in the shuttle.

"Military strategy your next area of expertise?" Sheppard asked with a smile.

"No, but it makes sense. If you can't get the jumper going, we need to take out the interference. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out," Jennifer said glancing at the soldiers and seeing grins from Lorne and Warrington. Gunnery Sergeant Richards raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"Well, we'll do both," the Colonel said. "Lorne, Roberts and Warrington will remain with the jumper. McKay and Zelenka will work on getting the jumper flying. Master Gunny, weapons, ammunition, explosives; get them organized."

"Yes, sir," Richards said as he and the other soldiers started moving to get supplies.

"John, you're going into a Wraith ship without me?" Rodney said with concern in his voice. He had stood up with John and Ronon next to him.

"Don't worry, McKay. We're only blowing it up, not exploring," Ronon said, slapping his back and causing him to moan.

"Seriously, there's no radio contact. If you get into trouble…" Rodney started. "I mean. You can't read Wraith or break into the computer..."

"You'll have Radek fly in to save the day," John said as his eyes connected with his friend.

Jennifer felt awkward watching the exchange because it was obvious to her that Rodney was seriously concerned for his teammates. _No matter how much they harass each other, the bond of brotherhood is obvious between John and Rodney. Just like Dad and Uncle Jack._

* * *

**A/N: I know, no cliffhanger, but the big reveal of her Uncle's identity should be enough for you. I'm sure it's no surprise, but it will be to Rodney some day ;-)**

**John was right back in chapter 12 and Rodney didn't listen to him if you don't remember the scene.**


	15. Radek's Bad Day

**MGM owns all characters.**

**Thanks to Betherdy Babe for beta.**

**A/N: Sorry for long hiatus, but without a cliffhanger to keep me focused, I left them all warm and cozy in the jumper. **

* * *

"You absolute… You incompetent… You… I can't believe… Get out. Get out of here!" Rodney's loud and angry voice penetrated the deep sleep that Jennifer had fallen into after the others had left.

"Get out? But there're monsters out there," she mumbled.

"He's not talking to us, love. He's throwing Radek out," Carson said and then his voice changed to the _business-like_ voice of a doctor addressing his patient. "How do you feel? I gave you a wee bit more of the painkillers after all you suffered through. I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner…"

"No. No, it's fine. You had no idea how badly I was injured until you made me pass out," she said, generating a few chuckles.

"I'm very sorry about that, Doctor Keller," Carson said as he moved the jacket she was wearing aside to ensure she was not bleeding.

"Hey, I don't want to flash everyone my bra," Jennifer said as she tried to twist away from Carson's hands as he opened her jacket.

"I need to check for bleeding, now relax," Carson said.

"I think she's pretty relaxed, Doctor Beckett. Better not do anything outside of the line of duty or I'll be forced to harm you," the deep voice of Sergeant Warrington spoke.

"Defending the ladies' honor are we? Well, I'll have to be asking your _intentions_ then as Doctor Keller is my responsibility," the Scotsman said causing Jennifer to smile.

"Sorry, Sergeant, I keep telling you that I'm not into soldiers. Have one in the family already," she said and then realized she was looking up at everyone. "Argh! I'm still lying down. I already said I didn't want…"

"Rodney! Do you think I did it on purpose?" Radek yelled as he and Rodney suddenly appeared from the cockpit.

"I don't know and I don't care, but now you better find a way to retrieve it," Rodney growled and then his voice dropped a bit as his eyes connected with hers. "How do you feel?"

"I never felt better. Should get mauled by mutants more often if I get to feel this wonderful afterwards," she said laughing.

"I see you finally gave her some pain medication," Rodney stated with obvious anger to Carson.

"Don't give him a hard time, Rodney. I wouldn't let him earlier, you never know who else might need it," Jennifer said trying to raise her arm to wave the comment off.

"Hey, no moving or you might tear the stitches," Carson said as she felt a hand on her arm.

"What seems to be the problem, Doctors?" Lorne's voice cut through the conversation and glared between Rodney and Radek.

"Can someone sit me up and preferably not Carson this time? His bedside manner sucks," Jennifer added, not really caring about the argument between the Canadian and his Czech assistant. She wanted to be upright to show Carson she was better_._

"You bloody well better stay where you are, young lady," Carson said sharply.

"Enough!" Lorne's voice cracked slightly. The stress was even getting to the veteran soldier. "Radek, what happened?"

"Hey, why are you asking Doctor Butterfingers?" Rodney said.

Jennifer giggled, "I love those candy bars."

"How much did you give her, Carson?" Rodney asked.

"Almost as much as you when you got shot in the arse," Carson responded.

"Rodney got shot in the butt?" Jennifer giggled again causing the men to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Aye, quite humorous when I think back to it. By an arrow of all things," Carson chuckled now too.

"Does everyone realize creatures are outside trying to get in and kill us?" Rodney yelled. "My wounds are not a topic for conversation! Radek dropped the main power crystal down between two panels and neither of us have small enough hands to reach it."

"Radek!" Carson moaned.

"It wasn't on purpose!" the Czech defended himself.

"I'll do it," Jennifer said trying to raise an arm. "I have small hands. Doctor Wainright always said that. Said I was a great surgeon, but my hands were so small if I had to do a liver transplant, I might lose the organ."

"That's disgusting!" Rodney said as other groans sounded. "We don't need a junkie trying to help us right now, no matter how smart you normally are."

"Aw, a compliment, how sweet. I'm so glad I didn't listen to the rumors about you or we'd never be friends," Jennifer said smiling up at Rodney who got very red. "Are you feeling all right because…?"

"I'm… Uh… I'll be… I'll be disassembling the panel to get the crystal," he stammered. "Radek, work on the drive pods to manually control them." With that, the physicist went back into the cockpit.

* * *

"Did I say something wrong?" Jennifer looked at Carson and Lorne standing over her.

"I believe you are the first person to ever admit that they liked Rodney McKay as soon as they met him," Carson said with a strange tone. "A totally unknown concept to that cranky old pain-in-the…"

"Hey! He's going to save your lives, again, so show some respect," Jennifer growled as she attempted to move into a sitting position. "And will someone bring me in there to get this damned crystal? I wanna rescue the others and go home."

Sheppard, Ronon, Richards and the others left a while before Jennifer was given more pain medication and fell asleep. They had a smaller Morse code transmitter and more weapons, so they were prepared for the creatures' unusual tactic of throwing each other at the humans. Apparently, one landed on Jennifer and another Wagner's stretcher as they walked to the jumper.

A brief discussion followed about how the creatures came to be with Jennifer and Carson, but the scientists could come up with no natural means of them being created. The team of soldiers now had to be concerned that the Wraith ship they were planning to destroy might have Wraith on it. Undeterred, Sheppard and his men set out, leaving the others to wait for the two genius engineers to figure out how to get them home or for their destruction of this device.

"Major Lorne," Jennifer said quietly after the silence went on for too long. "Colonel Sheppard left _you_ in charge, so you make the calls around here. If you can explain to Doctor Weir _and_ General O'Neill why you didn't accept a civilian's _voluntary_ offer to help _and_ if you won't feel like you let your CO and your men down, then leave me sitting here. Otherwise, let me help Rodney." Jennifer looked questioningly at the Major.

"You cannot move her, Major," Carson said stepping in front of the bench she lay on. "I won't allow it. She's my patient…"

"Oh, Carson, we don't have time for this. How long has Sheppard been gone? Hours? The walk should not have taken them that long," Jennifer said. Her head and body began to ache once again and she almost begged Carson for more pain medication, but knew she needed to convince the Air Force Major to let her help. _Screaming for drugs won't make him feel confident in me._

"Doctor Keller is right about that, Doctor Beckett," Lorne said finally looking at the physician's boss and then at her. "Please step aside, so I can carry Doctor Keller to the cockpit. It's crucial we complete our mission and she can help. I'm sorry, Doc."

"If you injure her further, it will go in my report," Carson said crossing his arms and moving aside. "I mean it, Major. You can explain to Elizabeth what happened."

"Please stop this. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Honestly, listening to those things clawing the metal every once in a while is freaking me out. Not sure about the rest of you," Jennifer said loudly, which caused her head to pound. "So I want to go as soon as possible."

"I agree with Doctor Keller," Zelenka said from under a portion of the seat across from her. He was obviously trying to access the drive pod in a manual fashion. "I want to go back to M7G677 after this mission is over. I need some peace."

"Well, that bloody well settles it doesn't it?" Carson threw his arms up and shouted. "You obviously have a degree in medicine in addition to engineering, so I should just shut up."

"Shut up! Everyone just shut-up!" Lorne shouted and everyone, including Jennifer jumped.

"What the hell is going on back here!" Rodney shouted as he re-entered the seating area.

"You're fixing this jumper," Lorne said turning to point a finger in Rodney's face. "And you…" he pointed to Zelenka, "…are helping him… from back here."

It was obvious to Jennifer and the other soldiers, who she could see staring with wide-eyed shock at Sheppard's 2IC, that Lorne had lost control.

"Beckett, I will take your opinion under advisement, but I am overruling you as the leader of this expedition…" Lorne started.

"Leader? You're Sheppard's second in command. Carson's head of medicine and _I'm _head of Science and Research. If Elizabeth and Sheppard are out of commission, I'm in charge," Rodney said puffing his chest up and crossing his arms.

"Just stop it all of you!" Jennifer yelled and then took a deep breath to ward off the wave of nausea she suddenly felt. "Lorne get me off this bench. Rodney, show me where this crystal is."

"What! You're not moving. Carson said you're too weak and that you might start bleeding again. I'll get the panel off in another hour or so," Rodney said as he stepped closer to her.

Jennifer could see concern in his face. _He better let me help or I'll kill him._

"I am in command of this _military_ operation," Lorne said as he quickly leaned down and scooped Jennifer up.

It was not as bad as when Carson moved her, but it still hurt. Stifling a groan, she rested her head on Lorne's broad shoulder and bit her lip, which was covered by her loose hair.

Jennifer was _not_ snuggling up to the Major, but when he lifted her, a wave of nausea and dizziness swept over her and caused her head to sag. _The only one I'd like to snuggle with is pissed at me, so that won't happen for a while._

"What are you doing?" Rodney barked from her left. "Be careful. If she starts bleeding…"

"Where's the crystal?" Lorne's voice rumbled through his chest, penetrating Jennifer's head, as he cut off Rodney's ranting.

* * *

Once they got into the cockpit, Lorne set her down behind the pilot's chair where Rodney pointed. The astrophysicist looked so angry when she looked at him that she thought he couldn't speak if he wanted to.

A narrow slit between the panel and the floor covering was visible to her right. _Holy crap, that's smaller than I imagined it would be. _Realizing how limited the movement in her arms was, she knew there was no way she was going to be able to slide her hand in there unassisted.

"Um…" Jennifer started only to be cut off by Rodney.

"I'm not going to let you do this," he said as he knelt in front of her. His eyes full of concern, which she knew others thought was only anger.

"Thank you, Major. I need to rest a few minutes," she said smiling at Lorne. Suddenly embarrassed that she was not as strong as she was pretending to be, she hoped she could convince Rodney to let her help.

"Okay. Do you need anything?" the Major asked smiling back.

Rodney shifted and growled, "Why don't you start teaching Zelenka about pitch and roll?"

"Not too much pitching and rolling please because it's going to be nasty without the inertial dampeners," Jennifer added.

"Oh crap. You had to remind me," Rodney said shaking his head.

"Are you sure you don't need anything more, Doctor Keller? I'll get Doctor Beckett if you're ill," Lorne said smiling.

"I'm fine, Major. Thanks," Jennifer tried to put a tone of dismissal into her voice, which the Major seemed oblivious too.

Rodney was not so subtle. "I need to get to work, Major. Doctor Keller is fine and I'll call for Doctor Beckett if he's needed."

Lorne smiled again at Jennifer and cast an annoying glance at Rodney as he left. "Now, don't be angry because I can help, _but_ I need a little assistance from you."

"Jennifer, I'm not going to let you hurt yourself because Radek screwed up," Rodney said once again looking intensely into her tawny eyes.

Swallowing the sudden desire to lean forward and kiss him, Jennifer spoke, "Rodney, I can't feel anything because of all these pain meds. I can't move my arm to get it into the space. I need you to help me move it." _It's not a total lie._

"Jennifer…" Rodney started.

"It'll take me a few seconds instead of taking you hours. You _know_ time is precious," Jennifer implored him with her eyes and voice. _Please listen to me._

"Fine. What do you need me to do?" Rodney asked.

Jennifer told him to move her right arm to the gap and help her lean forward. A wave of nausea and pain once again threatened to overwhelm the young physician as Rodney helped her move. Trying to concentrate on his warm hands holding her around the waist and holding her right arm, she suppressed the groan of pain she wanted to let out.

After what felt like minutes, she gripped the crystal between two fingers. I_ hope I don't drop it because I can't make a fist or I'll never get my hand back out_. "Got it."

"Good," Rodney said.

Her head was almost resting on his shoulder like she just dreamed about a few minutes prior. His voice rumbled through her body causing feelings to stir that pushed her pain aside. _I can't believe this is happening to me during the most terrifying experience of my life. I finally find a guy I'm crazy about from the moment I met him._

Very carefully, Rodney helped her pull back and as soon as her hand was free, he gripped it tightly with his. Their eyes connected over the few inches that separated them until the physician had to close her eyes against the pain that shot through her body.

"The pain meds are wearing off, aren't they?" Rodney's soft voice spoke from close to her face.

She opened her eyes and nodded. "Sorry I didn't tell you…"

"I _know_ why you didn't, but don't do _anything_ like this again. Okay?" Rodney asked softly as his hand, which held hers, moved. With great care, he lifted her hand and set it on her lap. He ensured she was leaning against the side of the jumper before removing his arm from her waist. "I'll call Carson with more medicine."

"Wait," Jennifer whispered. She had been drawn in by his soft voice and caring eyes. The desire to kiss him was so strong she swayed toward him.

Obviously, Rodney picked up on her thoughts because he looked quickly toward the doorway to make sure no one was there and leaned forward to briefly brush her lips with his. The pressure was so fleeting that Jennifer thought she imagined it and almost moaned aloud.

"Carson," Rodney yelled after he pulled back still staring into her wide-open eyes.

"You called?" Carson said, his brogue dripping with sarcasm.

"Please give Jennifer some more medicine. She's still in a lot of pain," he ordered as he stood up and was forced to get back to work.

Carson knelt in front of Jennifer with a scowl on his face. "I knew you were too weak. Now, let me get Lorne…"

"No. I don't want to move. I think I'll throw up on him this time," she said.

"Throw up?" Carson's eyebrows shot up his forehead. "You have a concussion! I knew it. Your head got hit into the ground very hard. I can't believe…"

"Carson!" Rodney's voice shouted. "I've had a concussion and being scolded and yelled at is the last thing Jennifer needs."

"I'm sorry, love," Carson said. "I shouldn't have been so hard on ya. I know you're trying to help."

"Thanks. Now, if you don't mind, I need to sleep," Jennifer said.

"Oh no, not with a concussion. I'll be sitting with you," Carson said.

"I don't think so," Rodney replied. "I've barely got enough room to work with Jennifer here. You'll only get in the way. I'll make sure she wakes up every hour or so. I do know the drill."

"Why are you so willing to help a relative stranger? I mean you two only met yesterday. Hell, I've known you for over four years and you're as much of a jerk to me now as in Area 51," Carson said as he stood and glared at Rodney.

Jennifer desperately wanted to hear Rodney's response and strained to listen to him over the pounding in her head.

"Jennifer is a fellow genius, therefore…" Rodney's voice faded as the frustrated woman submitted to the call of sleep her bruised and battered body begged for.

TBC

**

* * *

A/N: Sorry for this to take so long but writing only one POV has been a challenge. I'd love to describe the exploits of Sheppard or Rodney's thoughts, but I'm sticking with my plan.**


	16. Radek Earns his Wings or Not

**MGM owns all characters except OCs.**

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and Betherdy Babe for beta. Thanks to Google Translate for translations. Apologies for starting w/ Czech swear words.**

* * *

"Mrzutý, bolest v zadku," the voice of Radek Zelenka broke into Jennifer's sleepy head this time.

"That's not very nice," she said, uncertain of what the words meant but sure they were swears by his tone and the fact that Rodney was now yelling.

"Will you grow up? We're trying to help you and all you…" Rodney barked.

"You are _not_ helping. You are making matters worse," Radek yelled.

"Radek, I've flown for over ten years, I know what _I'm_ talking about," Lorne said.

Jennifer opened her eyes and noticed it was getting dark outside the window. _What time is it?_

"You're going to have to line things up visually. There'll be no HUD to guide you, so you'll need to use landmarks. That's why we need to leave soon. It's getting dark," Lorne said with exasperation in his voice.

"But…" the Czech started only to be cut off by Carson, who now entered the cockpit to stand between Rodney and Lorne. The Major was standing with a hand on the console and his other hand on the back of the pilot seat, which was occupied by Radek, with his back to her.

"Bloody hell, it's getting dark. We need to get a move on. I can assure you that flying in the dark with the display is hard enough," Carson added. "Flying in the dark without it will be impossible."

"Not you too. I've had it! Get someone else to fly," Radek jumped out of the seat and his eyes connected with Jennifer, stopping him cold.

"Hey, could you guys keep it down? My head hurts enough without the yelling," Jennifer said quietly trying to smile.

"Sorry," Zelenka mumbled looking distressed.

"Jennifer," Rodney immediately pushed past Radek to kneel at her side. "I'm sorry we woke you up."

"It was not as nice as the last wake-up call." Jennifer said as she stared into blue eyes and remembered when Rodney woke her up a while ago.

_

* * *

She felt soft, gentle stroking on her cheek and turned her head into the caress. Her name was spoken quietly near her right ear. Torn between moving closer to the tender voice or the wonderful feeling of slightly, roughened skin stroking her face, she settled for opening her eyes and smiling._

_"Good, you woke up," Rodney said. He was sitting on his knees on the floor next to her. She was leaning against the wall of the jumper behind the pilot's seat, someone had removed the other seat and a blanket had been wrapped around her. Panels lay on the floor and crystals sat in strategic locations around the cockpit._

_"Still stuck here, huh?" she mumbled, smiling into his handsome face. _

"_Almost got the drive pods engaged so we should be moving soon," Rodney said as he removed his hand from her face. "Now, I have to ask you some questions to make sure you're doing okay."_

"_How will you know the answers? We just met," Jennifer giggled._

"_What's your name?" Rodney asked in a serious tone, but his eyes shone with playfulness._

"_Jennifer Anne Keller." He must be losing it too._

"_Where were you born?"_

_"Where do you think I was born?" She smiled._

"_Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin," he replied looking smug._

_"How did you know that?" she asked confused because she did not think she told him where she was from._

"_I know everything," Rodney said with a smile overtaking his face. "Now, I need to get back to work. I'll wake you up in another hour."_

"_Just as nicely, I hope," she sighed as she briefly brushed his thigh with her hand, causing Rodney to jump back and bump his head on the pilot seat. As he started moaning in pain, Jennifer fell back to sleep._

* * *

"Zelenka, this is an _opportunity to excel_," Lorne called out.

"Enough with the stupid pilot jargon," Rodney barked. "We are not doing _bat turns_ or _hitting Warp One_, so knock it off."

"What's a _bat turn_? Does _Batman_ do those?" Jennifer said as she looked up at the four men crowded in the cockpit.

"See Radek, Doctor Keller's delirious. We need to get her back to Atlantis," Carson said as he knelt next to Jennifer. "How do you feel, love?"

"Like I'm in _Top Gun_ meets _Airport 77_, I'm waiting for _Charlton Heston_ to come through from the back to fly us home," the movie buff said with a laugh. "Really loved those old disaster flicks, but this is a little much."

"I think I gave you way too much morphine that last time," Carson said.

"You think?" Lorne responded, looking at the smiling woman on the floor of the jumper.

"Zelenka, get your ass in this seat, _now_. I'm going to turn on the power. Pull up on the controls to lift us and turn toward the hill to your right," Rodney said in a voice that was not to be disobeyed.

Radek turned, looked at his boss, swallowed, and returned to the seat.

"No," Lorne's voice broke in. "We head for the Stargate. We need to get back to Atlantis and bring reinforcements."

"No! We don't leave men behind," Rodney snapped. "We get our people first."

"We have pilots on Atlantis without the Ancient gene, they'll be better than Radek," Lorne barked. "Sheppard's orders stand. Head to the gate, _now_."

Jennifer was not so out of it that she did not sense the tension and anger in the confined space. Desperately trying to stay awake and think of something to say, the physician was at a loss. She looked to Carson and saw that he was torn as well. "I'm not that bad. We can get the Colonel and his team on the way to the Gate."

"We have no one to go and get the Colonel or his team," Lorne reminded them.

"Your men will go with you and I'll go. Carson too," Rodney said.

"Into an unknown Wraith ship? I don't think so. Besides, we need to get Jennifer and Sergeant Warrington back to Atlantis," Carson said as he stood up. "My patients come first."

"I am not leaving Sheppard and the others out there…" Rodney started.

"Even if this was a _democracy_, you're outnumbered," Lorne said, his voice rising. "Since it is a _military_ operation and _I'm_ in command, we go to the Gate."

* * *

After several more minutes of arguing and Jennifer finally saying that she would fly if someone moved her arms, the men stopped bickering and gave Radek his final preflight pep talk.

"Jennifer." Rodney knelt beside her. "The power controls, which I'll have to adjust manually, are in this panel above you, so I'll be close by if you need anything."

"I just want to lie in a soft bed and make sure the others are safe," Jennifer replied. "Guess the soft bed will come first."

"I'm with you for both of those," Rodney said with a smile. He stood up and looked at Lorne and Carson. "You guys better get strapped in and tie down the folks in the back. Without the dampeners, it will be a rough ride."

"We should get Doctor Keller tucked away in the back too," Lorne said as he stepped toward the physician.

"I'll keep an eye on her. I need to stay here anyways," Rodney said. "Besides, every time you move her, you hurt her, so I think she'll be better staying put."

Carson looked guilty as he glanced at Jennifer. "I don't want to move her again, but I gave her enough pain…"

"I'll stay here, if you don't mind," Jennifer said looking at the Major and her boss. "I think wedged in the corner of the cockpit is as good as on a bench back there."

Carson grumbled and Lorne looked like he wanted to pull rank again, but Rodney quickly moved a crate next to her and anchored it to the floor. "This should keep you from moving around too much."

* * *

After stowing as many loose items as possible and ensuring that Jennifer was wrapped snugly in the blanket, Rodney addressed the others who were in the cockpit, "When I connect these crystals, you'll have power, Radek."

"Já vím, že nejsem nejlepší pilot, ale slibuji, nikdy létat, bude-li si prožít to hrozný omyl rozhodnutí" Radek said quietly.

Jennifer wished she spoke Czech because she was certain it was a prayer by the seriousness in Radek's voice.

"You'll do fine, Radek," Rodney said quietly so only Jennifer and Radek could hear him.

"Thank you, Rodney," Radek said.

Rodney connected the crystals and a shudder passed through the jumper. The noise of the drive pods sounded like a roar through the tiny ship. _Never realized how small and loud these things were._

Jennifer felt her stomach lurch as the jumper lifted off the ground. _Oh please don't throw up. _Closing her eyes and leaning her head back, she tried not to think about the upward movement that started smoothly but suddenly jerked.

"Rodney! Keep the power steady," Radek yelled. "I'm above the trees now."

"Just slowly pull the control knob back to slow down or push to accelerate. I'm not controlling anything now," Rodney snapped, as he gripped the console above Jennifer's head and the back of Radek's chair.

"Keep your eyes focused out in front," Lorne said. "Not…"

The Major got cut off as the jumper hit into something and bounced. It then hit into several more things and pitched forward.

"Pull up. Pull up! You're crashing into the trees," Rodney shouted as a particularly hard hit caused him to almost fall down. His tight grip on the pilot chair kept him from flying across the cabin to land on Carson.

"I'm pulling," Radek shouted. Unfortunately, he was slowing the jumper so it was crashing through the trees to the ground.

"Up! Not back!" Rodney screamed as a large branch hit into the window.

The jumper suddenly pulled up while still pitched forward. Jennifer felt herself sliding along the wall toward Rodney's legs and the pilot's seat. Without the use of her arms or hands, she could not stop herself. "Uh… help," she said, trying not to add to the turmoil.

"Jennifer!" Carson yelled from his seat.

Rodney swiveled, still clutching the seat with his hands and bracing his legs against the console. "Jennifer!" He loosened his hold on the seat, lowered himself to the deck and slid an arm around Jennifer's waist to pull her close to him. "Radek, you've got to level this out!"

"I'm trying. I hated _Flight Simulator_. I crashed into everything," the Czech yelled, his voice full of panic.

"Now you tell us," Rodney barked.

"Rodney, you have to calm him down," Jennifer said softly, her head pressed against Rodney's shoulder as he wedged them between the console and the crate.

The jumper shuttered again and this time tilted backwards. Rodney's arm tightened around her waist as one of her hands managed to grip his shirt. "Radek! Stop jerking the controls," Rodney growled, his voice rumbling through her head.

"Rodney's right," Lorne said. "Steady hands."

"Radek, pretend you're playing chess. You never make quick moves," Rodney said in a quieter voice.

The thumb on Rodney's hand that was holding Jennifer's waist suddenly began rubbing back and forth. The sensations were more than enough to cause the young woman in his arms to sigh contently. "That's nice," she mumbled, smiling.

"What?" Rodney said with an edge in his voice that wasn't there before.

"I said _it's nice_, the way you're touching me," she said, louder than she should in a small space with other people present.

"I'm not… I… I-It's…" Before he could finish his ramblings, there was a loud crack and the jumper bounced.

"Sorry," Radek said.

"That was a bloody big tree you just took the top off of," Carson said.

Jennifer felt her stomach flip again and she pressed herself against Rodney more firmly, slipping her fingers around his belt to hold him close.

"Uh, Jennifer, I… You… Uh," Rodney stammered as his hand slid around her waist to try and gently remove her hand from his belt. "I really need to stand up."

"No you don't," Jennifer said. She kept her eyes closed and concentrated on not throwing up.

Rodney was not successful in removing her hand and was breathing heavily. "Calm down. You'll have a panic attack," the physician said as she shifted so her head was closer to his ear and she did not have to speak as loudly.

Another bump and a terrible grinding noise filled the jumper. "Radek! You're raking the jumper over the trees. Get some altitude!" Lorne was sounding as exasperated as Rodney.

"I have… to get… up, Jennifer," Rodney stammered, once again trying to remove her hand. "I need… to help…"

"If you leave, I'll fall over and hurt myself further. I'm really out of it and won't know how badly I'm hurt," she said as she opened her eyes to look up at him. From this angle, she could not see all of his face, but she saw enough reflected in the cabin light to see that he was frustrated and something else that she could not place. _His pupils are large and the blue is almost gone from his eyes. Does he have a head injury too? _Lifting her head, she asked, "Rodney, are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"What are you talking about?" Rodney asked.

Jennifer put her head down quickly as she felt dizziness threaten to overwhelm her, causing her lips to graze Rodney's neck and the physicist stiffened from the contact.

"Jennifer," he hissed.

"Sorry, I'm dizzy and don't want to puke on you," she said.

"Jennifer? Is it really that bad?" Rodney's voice was once again full of concern.

"Only…" The jumper shuddered and bounced once again, interrupting her words. "Only when we move."

"Radek!" Rodney yelled. "We need to get to the gate right away and stop hitting the damn trees. Jennifer's concussion is pretty bad and the bouncing isn't helping her."

"Jennifer," Carson's voice called to her. "Do you need more morphine? I have my kit right here."

"I think I'll puke with more morphine on an empty stomach," she said, snuggling closer to Rodney and taking deeper breathes. The pounding of Rodney's heart and his breathing were giving her something to concentrate on instead of the bouncing and her stomach.

"I see the Gate!" Radek shouted.

"Dialing the DHD, now," Lorne said.

"Thank God!" Carson said.

"Unfortunately, he's still got to fly straight through it," Rodney muttered, giving up his battle with Jennifer's hand and wrapping both arms around her waist.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rodney!" Radek shouted from directly above Jennifer's head.

The sound of the DHD in the jumper dialing filled her ears.

"Just reminding you to slow down and go straight in. We don't want to get wedged in the event horizon. With both of us on the jumper, we'll be dead for sure," Rodney said.

TBC

**

* * *

A/N: Yes, Rodney whumping of a different type in this chapter. I'm just evil that way, I know.**

_**Pilot jargon**_** (according to a military aviation website. Not run past real pilot for authenticity.)- **_**Opportunity to Excel**_**- succeed with an impossible situation. **_**Bat turn**_**-from **_**Batman**_** and references the Batmobile doing 180s. When the plane does a 180. **_**Hitting Warp One**_**-going really, really fast.**


	17. Rescue

**MGM owned all characters except OCs. Spoiler: SG1 Redemption.**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. As a story nears completion, my muse always leaves for a period of mourning and then returns. Thanks as always to Betherdy Babe and dwparsnips for beta.**

* * *

"Just land the damn thing in front of the gate," Rodney yelled, causing Jennifer to move her head because his voice resonated through her skull like a canon. "I'm not sure the gate can take another hit."

"The gate is not going to be destroyed by a jumper," Radek shouted. "They are indestructible."

Jennifer tried to move off the soft surface she was leaning against and realized something was holding her in place. Trying to access her _fuzzy_ memories took the genius physician a few minutes.

"I was on Earth when a gate blew up, so don't tell me they can't be destroyed," Rodney shouted back.

"Do you have to yell?" Jennifer said, finally lifting her head. Her body screamed in pain and, as soon as she moved, a wave of nausea passed through her that was so strong it made her gag. Rodney's arms, which had been keeping her steady, loosened to allow her to shift against him."

"Carson! I think Jennifer's going to be sick. How much morphine did you give her?" Rodney asked loudly.

Opening her eyes, she saw Rodney's chest rapidly rising and falling. "What's going on?" she whispered, sinking her head back against Rodney's comfortable shoulder and closing her eyes.

"Radek hit the Stargate with the jumper," Rodney said angrily.

The jumper bounced, causing her to groan. "Argh."

"Jennifer, are you okay?" Rodney asked, gently touching her chin to lift her head.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw Rodney's blue eyes looking intently at her face. "Concussions suck. I don't want another one and really could have done without this one."

"Well, as soon as our… _pilot…_ lands, we'll get you to the infirmary and you'll be able to rest," Rodney said, spitting out the word _pilot_.

"I heard that, Rodney. I'm doing one more pass," Radek said.

"Perhaps Doctor McKay is right?" Major Lorne said. "We need to get Doctor Keller to the infirmary quickly and lining up the gate can be tricky."

"You _made_ me do this instead of one of the soldiers without the gene. Now _let me_ do it," the Czech said with finality.

Suddenly, static and words filled the cockpit. "…Sergeant... immediate… Wraith ship… injuries."

"The radio!" Rodney twisted quickly, removing his arms from her waist, causing Jennifer to pitch sideways. "Crap!" he yelled as he quickly caught her before she hit the deck.

"Get out of that seat," Lorne yelled at Zelenka.

"With pleasure," Radek replied, jumping up and stepping back to the doorway.

"I'm sorry Jennifer," Rodney shouted as he carefully leaned her against the wall before heading to the copilot's seat. The inertial dampeners suddenly turned on, making her feel like she was sitting still.

"They took out the jamming device," Carson shouted.

"This is Major Lorne, we are on our way to your location, but your radio is breaking up," Evan said. "Can you repeat your situation?"

"Mas… Sergeant Richards…" a static-filled transmission replied. "Injuries to Col… Ronon and we lost…"

Silence filled the jumper. Jennifer glanced up to see Warrington in the doorway behind Radek, his face stoic. Carson was moving past the Marine to be in position to provide aid when they landed.

_Stackhouse and Yamamoto went with them._ _Did they die? What happened in there?_ A thousand questions filled Jennifer's mind. As the idea that they were going home registered, fear gripped her that something else could go wrong.

"Get ready back there," Lorne shouted. "We'll need to evac as soon as they're on board."

* * *

From Jennifer's position near the pilot seat, she could see most of the activity in the back of the jumper when it landed. Rodney and Radek had P90s, Carson was holding a handgun and the Marines, Warrington and Roberts, were facing the rear hatch with their guns in hand.

"I'm opening the hatch," Lorne called to them. "Be ready. If the sensors are correct, they are coming in hot. Got several people out in front and a mass of creatures chasing them."

Jennifer never felt so useless; she was dizzy, had trouble concentrating and was close to vomiting. Injured men were going to be in the jumper shortly and, as a physician, it was her duty to care for them. The inability to move her arms was like an anchor weighing her down. _Uncle Jack is going to haul me back to earth and I'm sure Carson will be happy to part with me. I got three people killed and took myself out of commission too. Some great addition to Atlantis I ended up being._

Once the hatch lowered, Sergeant Stackhouse, dragging Colonel Sheppard, came running into the ship. The Colonel was clutching his P90 and firing in controlled bursts, but it was obvious by the bruises on his face and blood on his uniform that he was injured. The young Marine dragging him appeared unscathed.

The sound of gunfire and howling drew closer as Warrington, Rodney and Radek opened fire. The sound of their guns, fired from the base of the ramp, echoed through the jumper, causing Jennifer's head to feel like it was splitting open. Roberts helped Stackhouse get Sheppard into the cockpit and lowered him to the deck next to her.

"What's going on back there?" Lorne yelled.

"We lost Yamamoto, sir," Stackhouse said. "There's a shitload of those things after Gunny and Ronon. The place was crawling with them."

Jennifer leaned over Sheppard to survey him for major injuries. His face was flushed and it appeared he split his chin open, but otherwise seemed fine. Of course she couldn't see under his uniform or move her arms to properly assess him.

"I don't think he's hurt too bad, ma'am. He got knocked down a flight of stairs from one of the explosions," Stackhouse said to her.

Jennifer felt a wave of nausea and had to lean back. "Can't… do much… anyways," she said softly, begging her stomach to settle. _I don't care how much it hurts, no more morphine._

More gunfire sounded from the rear of the jumper and Jennifer heard Carson yelling that Gunny needed help with Ronon.

"I'm on it, Doc," Warrington's deep voice said.

Forcing herself to open her eyes, she saw Warrington launch himself down the ramp. Stackhouse had gone back as well and Roberts looked around for something useful to do.

"Doc," Sheppard moaned.

"Colonel," she said quietly. "Sorry I can't help you, but if I move I might throw up on you."

"Not a problem, just some broken ribs and a nasty headache," he said. "Had 'em before."

"I know. I've read your medical files," she said, trying to think of anything but the pain.

"No wonder you're immune to my charms," he said, wincing as he pushed himself off the deck. "Lorne, get us the hell out of here and send some drones up their ass."

"Yes, sir," Lorne said. "Gunny'll be onboard with Ronon in a few seconds."

Jennifer looked back to see the big Marine with the Satedan in a fireman's carry coming up the ramp. Gunny placed Ronon down on the deck with Carson and Rodney's assistance. The creature had obviously attacked the Satedan because deep red marks ran across his chest and were visible to Jennifer from the cockpit. The ramp was closing before Gunny had gotten Ronon settled, so Jennifer knew they were taking off.

John pulled himself into a sitting position as Rodney reentered the cockpit. "You need to lie down," the physicist said to his CO as he set his P90 down and took the copilot's seat.

"I'll be stuck lying in the infirmary for days, so I thought I'd sit for a while," the Colonel said, looking at Jennifer. "You two were on to something about the Wraith. They were doing experiments." Sheppard looked like he was going to be sick.

"How do you know?" Jennifer felt fear grip her heart as she asked.

"We saw… people… in pods… like cocoons, in various conditions," John explained slowly. He was laboring to catch his breath. "Found Nixon, Neil and Taylor. Must have been dragged in and…" He stopped speaking as he seemed to realize what he said.

Jennifer could not prevent tears from sliding out of her eyes. All the fear and emotions she held back the last day seemed ready to come out. Only her stubborn pride held in the sobs she wanted to release.

"You need to rest, sir," Gunny said when he entered the cockpit to kneel between his CO and Jennifer. "You too, Doctor Keller." His grey eyes accessed the young woman wearing a jacket much too big for her and wrapped in a blanket.

"How did you find the device interfering with Ancient tech and please tell me you managed to get _something_ from their computer?" Rodney asked, looking down for his seat.

"We managed to grab a Wraith storage device before we blew up the main lab, Doctor McKay," Richards said, pulling a small black device out of a pocket. "The interference stopped after we blew up the lab, so the device must have been in there."

Rodney's face lit up as he took it from the Marine and he finally looked back at Jennifer. He almost leaped over Sheppard and Richards to get to her once their eyes connected. "Are you okay? Are you in pain again?" he asked as he knelt next to her and brushed tears off her face.

"I'm fine. Just hearing about…" Jennifer blinked her eyes a few times as Rodney sat next to her, forcing Richards to move.

"Yeah, I have to admit this was one of the worse missions I've been on in a long time," Rodney said. "Almost as bad as being captured on a Hive ship."

"I think the Replicator torture was pretty bad," Sheppard moaned as he tried to climb into the seat Rodney vacated.

"If you don't relax, Colonel, I'll have Richards restrain you," Jennifer said at the sound of his moaning.

"Still giving orders?" John chuckled. "You really are a serious pain in the ass, you know."

"As I told Gunny, I strive to be the best at everything I do," she chuckled and settled back against the console.

A smile graced Rodney's face and it caused hers to widen. "We're going home," he said softly as his grin turned slightly mischievous.

Raising her eyebrows, Jennifer asked quietly, "You haven't forgotten our need for… a _conversation_?" Lorne could be heard calling Atlantis with Doctor Weir's voice responding.

"Nope." He leaned closer. "I really hope you heal as quickly as you think on your feet."

Jennifer knew she turned scarlet as they were pulled through the wormhole and back to the safety of Atlantis.

TBC

**

* * *

A/N: I wanted to stay with Jennifer's POV and could find no way without things getting stupid to get her on the Wraith ship. Hope you are not too disappointed with no battle on the Wraith ship.**


	18. The End or a New Beginning

**MGM owns all characters except my OCs.**

**A/N: This is the end of the story. Thanks to all my betas during this, especially scr1tno, dwparsnip, Betherdy Babe and Starclipper01, who supplied a lot of the military details. McKeller fluff warning.**

* * *

Jennifer drifted in and out of consciousness over the next few days because of the heavy doses of morphine. People were in her room often when she woke up and they tended to blend together: Carson, Marie, Colonel Sheppard, Major Lorne and Master Gunny Richards. She did, however, remember the visits of a certain astrophysicist, who always stayed after the others had gone and squeezed her hand or gently brushed the hair from her face while he babbled about his day.

* * *

Richards had been leaving her room that afternoon when she awoke, so she called to him, "Gunny?" Struggling to sit up was more difficult than she cared to admit. Her left arm was in a sling and useless while her right arm hurt when she flexed her bicep.

"Yes, Doctor Keller," the Marine said as his eyebrows rose in a scolding fashion, which caused her to stop moving.

"I need to ask you…" she started.

"The answer to your question is _yes_," the Marine said with a faint smile on his lips.

"But I didn't…" she stopped. _He knows everything, I guess. _"How do you know Uncle Jack?"

"That's a long story. We served together many years before the SGC even existed," Richards said, walking back to her side.

"Did you talk to him?" she asked with trepidation in her voice.

"I filed a report," he answered.

"And?" she prompted, wishing she could reach up and grab his jacket to shake him. _The man is a brick wall of emotions and I could kill him for it._

"He's not flying out with the Daedalus or the Apollo if that's your concern," Richards offered, standing nearly at attention next to her.

"Am I flying back on one of them?" Jennifer had to ask. Her body tensed for his answer. She knew how protective Jack had been while she was growing up and assumed he would be just as irrational in this instance.

"No," Gunny answered. The big Marine seemed to see that the physician was troubled, so he continued, "I told the General how you kept it together and thought on your feet. Even said you were a step ahead of McKay a couple times, which really impressed him."

"Really?" Jennifer was shocked. "I can stay?"

"You can stay, but he wants me to accompany you off world or have you go with Sheppard's team," Gunny said, giving in to the twitch at the corners of his mouth and smiling at the young woman. "I'd be honored to accompany you on any future missions Doctor Keller."

"Thanks," Jennifer replied, unable to keep the grin off her face.

"I would caution you from joining Sheppard's team however," Gunny said.

"Why?"

"You know why," the wise older man said, cocking his eyebrow and staring intently into her brown eyes.

It took Jennifer a second for her mind to catch up with Richards'. "I can assure you that… _if _I date a member of Sheppard's team, I won't advertise it to the base nor will I let it get in the way of my job."

Gunny smiled and laughed. "Since he's been camping out in the infirmary it'll be hard to keep it hidden."

Before Jennifer could reply Carson and Major Lorne walked by the open doorway and stopped when they saw that she was awake.

"Think you'll stay awake this time, love," Carson said, walking over to look at her vital signs.

"I hope so. It feels like I've been asleep for weeks," Jennifer said, smiling at her boss and the Major.

"Glad you're feeling better. You look rested and have a lot of color back in your face," Lorne said as he stepped next to Gunny at her side.

The Master Gunnery Sergeant glanced at his immediate CO and Jennifer saw a slight glare directed at the younger officer. _Better shoot this one down fast._ The last thing she wanted was to cause a rift in the military leadership. "Thank you Major. I can't wait to get out of here."

"I can grab you lunch if you'd like?" Evan offered.

On queue Rodney entered the room with a box in one hand and his tablet in the other. He had a perplexed look as he took in all the people in her room.

"There are _way_ too many people in here," Carson scolded. "I need all of you out."

"You heard Carson," Rodney said to Lorne and Richards as he stepped behind the men to set his stuff down.

Rodney's blue eyes connected with hers and he fought to keep his smile suppressed. It was in his eyes, however, which made Jennifer's stomach flutter. _How does he affect me like this?_ The young woman never remembered being weak-in-the-knees by one look from a man before.

"That means you too, Rodney," Carson added as Rodney made no move to leave.

"You heard Doctor Beckett, McKay. Everybody out," Lorne said as he set a small package down on the table near her bed and stared pointedly at Rodney.

"What's that?" Rodney said, sounding annoyed and ignoring the requests for him to leave.

"Just something for the beautiful doctor," the Air Force officer said, winking at Jennifer. As he passed McKay, Jennifer saw them continue their eye contact and she swore a challenge was issued.

"What is it?" Jennifer asked hesitantly. The young woman never had men fighting over her so she was not sure what to do.

"Some jelly beans," Lorne said. "Figured you could use something sweet."

"That's nice Major, but I don't really like jelly beans," Jennifer said, trying to sound casual about it. She couldn't help but notice that Richards was almost laughing, Carson looked mildly shocked and Rodney barely contained his glee that she shot down the handsome pilot.

"Oh… um… well, you can share them with someone then," Lorne said. His shoulders seemed to slump slightly as he nodded at Carson and Richards as he left. His eyes never connected with McKay's again.

Richards leaned close to Jennifer and whispered, "Nice. You saved the Major an ass kicking in the ring."

Jennifer opened her mouth to speak only to be cut off once again by the Sergeant.

"Take it easy and don't do anything too _strenuous_ today," Richards said as he wiggled his eyebrows once, glanced at McKay, who was still grinning because she shot down the Major, and headed to the door.

"Wasn't planning on running a marathon," Jennifer called after him as she felt her face heat up.

"So, do you want to hear the latest from the data device?" Rodney asked as he took up Gunny's position next to Jennifer.

"I'd like to hear the earliest too," Jennifer said, looking expectantly at Rodney. Once again, when their eyes met, she felt a flutter in her stomach. _I've gotta get a grip or Gunny's right about not going off world with Rodney's team._

"Well, you haven't missed too much," Rodney said as he pulled a chair over next to her and pushing the meal table over the bed with the box and his laptop on it.

Carson raised an eyebrow. "Making yourself comfortable aren't we?"

Jennifer wanted to laugh because Rodney was truly settling in like he belonged there, a thought that sent a warm feeling through Jennifer. Realizing they had a lot to talk about on a personal level, she suddenly wanted her boss to leave.

"Yes. I'm starving and I'm sure Jennifer wants some food too," Rodney snapped as he opened the box to reveal two burgers, fries and blue Jell-O.

Jennifer groaned and looked sadly at Rodney, which prompted him to say in a panicked voice, "What's wrong? Don't tell me you don't like burgers?"

"I can't eat them," she said, waving her right hand in the air not too far off the bed.

"Oh," Rodney said, looking crestfallen. "Well, I guess I…"

"If you offer to feed her, I'm going to be sick," Carson said, barely suppressing a laugh.

"I… No… Don't be…" Rodney stammered, turning red because it was obvious to the physicians that he was going to suggest it.

"Just put a few fries close to my reach and I'll survive," she said with a smile, cutting off his rambling. It was adorable to her, but she really wanted to hear about the results of his analysis and get rid of Carson.

"Okay," Rodney said. "I uncovered two different experiments going on with this voodoo doctor of a Wraith." He grabbed his tablet.

"Voodoo?" Jennifer questioned.

Carson shook his head in disgust. "Doctor McKay thinks anyone who is a medical researcher or doctor is a voodoo practitioners."

"Jennifer's not. I've seen her in the field. She's a genius," Rodney said, glancing at Jennifer.

"So I'm still a voodoo doctor?" Carson snapped. "Just remember that the next time you get shot in the arse by an arrow."

"Hey, what happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?" Rodney growled.

Jennifer started laughing and only stopped once her ribs hurt. They were like a couple of little boys bickering about who was mommy's favorite.

"See, you're upsetting her. You should leave, especially since your girlfriend was here looking for you earlier. Why don't you spend time with her?" Carson said, crossing his arms over his chest.

_Girlfriend?_ The word sent a cold shaft through Jennifer and she felt her stomach clench. _Rodney has a girlfriend? He…_ She could not even comprehend how a man with a girlfriend could have been so flirtatious with her. Furrowing her brow and staring at his expressive face, she waited to hear his response.

"What girlfriend?" Rodney asked.

Jennifer watched his face for the slightest sign that he was lying and his clear blue eyes looked mildly annoyed, as they had with Carson since the two started bickering, but he did not appear as if he were hiding anything.

"Really? I almost got blown to bloody pieces because you had to eat with her instead of fish with me a few weeks ago," Carson barked.

"Oh, that. I would rather do anything than fish," Rodney said, grabbing a burger and taking a bite. He looked at Jennifer, who was still trying to gage his honesty, and rolled his eyes while mumbling _sorry_ between chews of his hamburger. It was obvious he felt guilty eating while she could not.

Jennifer looked back to Carson and thought he was going to hit Rodney. "You dragged me on that first date with her over a year ago; you used Katie to get out of fishing and now you say she's _not_ your girlfriend?"

"Cadman was in control of me on that date and asked you to join us. Yes, I used Katie to get out of fishing with you and do feel bad that you almost died. I'm sure it would have torn me up." Rodney shook his head in mock sympathy. "Now, do you want to hear what I found or not?"

Jennifer felt that Rodney seemed sincere in his explanation that this _Katie_ was not a true girlfriend. She was still mildly surprised the physicist was dating even if it was casually. The stories she heard about him would have scared almost anyone away from him, but obviously this other woman got through his shielding like she did. It left her feeling jealous, which was a new emotion for her.

"Let's leave Jennifer in peace and discuss this…" Carson began.

"I'd like to hear it," Jennifer said. "All of it." She muttered the last part under her breath and glanced at Rodney, who was shoveling in French fries.

* * *

"It appears this Wraith was trying to breed some type of super Wraith," Rodney said between spoonfuls of Jell-O.

Jennifer had to admit she was starving and almost asked Rodney to spoon-feed his dessert to her. The few fries she managed to lift to her mouth caused her arm to ache, so she didn't want to attempt dessert; a second blue Jell-O and a fruit cup were visible in the box for her. She had told Rodney to eat the second burger because there was no way she could eat it.

"Why do you say that?" Carson asked.

"Well, he fed the Taranians to the Iratus bugs, injected Wraith enzyme and this word for a material that I couldn't translate into the eggs to make them grow faster and stronger…" Rodney said.

"What word?" Jennifer chimed in.

"You can read Wraith?" Rodney asked, looking surprised.

"I can read Ancient and Wraith is a derivative. Maybe a fresh set of eyes would help," Jennifer offered. She was still jealous about Katie and wanted to get rid of Carson to grill Rodney some more. _If I can help get through this information download, we can have some privacy._

"Knock yourself out," Rodney said, finishing his Jell-O with a smile and turning his laptop so she could see it more clearly.

Jennifer tried to ignore him, at least until they were alone together, but all the glances and eye contact was making it difficult. She realized early on in their adventure together that staring into his blue eyes made all her troubles feel a little less, even pesky thoughts about girlfriends wandering around Atlantis.

"What about the interference with your ability to use the Ancient interface?" Jennifer asked while she stared at the word and the context it was used in.

"Did you ever read about the device on M1B-129?" Rodney asked. "The one that gave the team hallucinations and got me shot by John?"

"Yes," Jennifer said softly. "I read the report." She glanced at Carson who looked sad momentarily because he had lost a soldier on that mission. _Everything went to hell just like this mission. _When Carson caught her eye, she offered him a knowing smile. Pushing the thoughts of how many people were lost that she could have helped from her mind, she turned back to the screen.

"Well, this Wraith perfected it to control the mutated people apparently and a side affect was to interfere with the thoughts of those of us with an active Ancient gene," Rodney explained. "Too bad they had to destroy the lab. Would have been interesting to study it."

Jennifer had to smile as she imagined working side-by-side with the physicist. "I have a theory on this word, but it doesn't make much sense."

"Really?" Rodney moved and stood next to her, leaning over the table and resting one arm across the back of the bed behind her head. "What do you think it is?"

"Looks like cursed or accursed or something like that. Accursed material is my best guess. You'd need a linguist to really figure it out," Jennifer said, glancing up at the physicist who was leaning pretty close to her. His proximity was causing her face to heat up and warmth to spread through her entire body.

Carson coughed suddenly and Jennifer looked at him to see his face turn pink and his eyes glance around the room. "Are you okay, Carson?"

"Fi-fine," he mumbled between coughs. "Why would a material be cursed?"

"It cursed the inhabitants of that colony." Jennifer stated; sadness was evident in her voice.

"This translation will do," Rodney said close to Jennifer's ear because he had not stopped hovering over her.

"So, he mutated the people and then tried to control their minds?" Jennifer summarized, looking between the two men.

"Why?" Carson finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Galactic domination," Rodney said as he finally sat back down.

"Seriously?" Jennifer had to smile.

"Yes," Rodney said, pulling the laptop back and finding a new screen. "It says he has other facilities with similar experiments being run. All to create a powerful being."

Jennifer felt a chill go up and down her spine. "There are more of those things out there? Any mention of the planets?"

"No. Only that his other facilities are having difficulties. The mind control device worked best on the planet we were on. Everything else is corrupted and indecipherable to me and the translation matrix," Rodney explained.

"Well, that's terrifying," Carson said.

The three of them looked from one to the other for a while, not saying anything more. Jennifer knew they needed to be on the look out for these facilities. _Looks like I'll be working with Rodney one way or another. _

"On this wonderful note, I will leave you two alone since it's what you've been wanting since Rodney got here. I want to echo what Sergeant Richards said about nothing strenuous Jennifer," Carson said with a straight face as the two geniuses turned red. A grin finally broke out as the Scotsman stopped in the doorway. "Think I'll give Doctor Brown a call about a dinner date."

Jennifer closed her eyes and groaned. When she opened them, Rodney was closing the door. "What are you doing?" she inquired.

"Giving us some privacy," he said with a cocky smirk on his face. He was practically swaggering as he walked back to her.

"These Iso labs have cameras," she started.

"But these aren't working," he said, grinning as he pointed toward the ceiling. "On my _To Do List_. Somewhere near the bottom though."

"Good because I don't want security running down here when I kill you," she said angrily. "You never said that you had a girlfriend!" Jennifer could not believe the wave of anger surging through her.

"No, no, no, no," Rodney suddenly lost his swagger as he waved his hands and closed his eyes before opening them wide in fright. "Katie Brown is _not_ my girlfriend."

"Carson seems to think so," Jennifer said, scowling at him.

"Well Carson's wrong. I explained how I used her to get out of fishing," Rodney said, speaking quickly. He stood next to her waving his hands about. "He can see the chemistry between us and he's trying to cause trouble. That's all. I'm not dating anyone and don't have a girlfriend. You have to believe me."

"Chemistry?" Jennifer raised an eyebrow. The physicist was ranting and begging like the night when she awoke to find him groping her.

"Yes. You alluded to it when we were together on that planet," Rodney said, whining slightly. "You remember… we talked about a date or two when it was over. I'd never plan a date with you if I had a girlfriend."

Still not wanting to entirely let him off the hook, Jennifer continued, "But you have dated her?"

"Not really. Cadman screwed up our first date and I had to call it short halfway through. Never had another one until I had lunch with her to get out of the fishing trip," Rodney said, his blue eyes pleading with her. "Maybe I thought she could be my girlfriend once, but not anymore."

"Why not?" Jennifer asked.

Rodney had sat down on the chair next to the bed once again. His shoulders were slumped and she could tell he was truly worried she was not going to forgive him. The puppy-dog expression melted her heart.

"Because I have someone else in mind," Rodney said, meeting her gaze. "She's much more of my type than Katie ever could have been."

"Your type?" Jennifer felt a familiar fluttering in her stomach.

"Smart, funny, tenacious, shoots down handsome flyboys at the drop of a hat and drop dead gorgeous," he said with a grin reforming.

"Who could that be?" Jennifer asked quietly. She suddenly felt like she was in a dream. No one had ever spoken to her like that before and she was quickly losing her control of the situation.

"And here I thought you were a genius," Rodney responded, moving the table aside and sitting on the edge of the bed. His arms came down on either side of her body, caging her in. The arrogance returned and radiated off of the handsome genius as he leaned closer to her.

Trying to maintain steady breathing and keep her heart from beating out of her chest, she said, "I was thinking we'd have a date or two before... I mean... your girlfriend? That's a bit fast, isn't it?"

Rodney chuckled and raised his eyebrows. "I've been told I can move fast with the proper motivation."

"Motivation?" Jennifer held herself steady. Every molecule in her body was focusing her eyes to his lips; the desire to feel his arms around her and his lips against hers was overwriting her brain. A tiny voice was saying that her uncle would not approve of her getting involved with anyone on the base, let alone someone he was not fond of. That voice was being drown out as Rodney's eyes surveyed her face and his smile widened.

"Uh-huh," Rodney muttered as his eyes settled on her lips.

"Like a kick in the pants?" she offered.

"Was thinking of something more pleasant… for both of us," he said as he finally leaned the short distance between them to press his lips to hers.

His lips were soft and controlling as they moved over hers. A whimper came from her throat as one of his hands moved up to cup her cheek and slide into her hair. The whimper turned into a moan as his tongue flicked over her lips and teased its way between them.

The sense of belonging and security she felt as Rodney moved closer to her, pressing his chest lightly against her as he deepened the kiss made her feel like she was coming home. Her right hand moved to grip his side and her fingers clenched his black t-shirt as the kiss increased in intensity.

Rodney definitely knew how to kiss and Jennifer was thankful that he did everything with the same enthusiasm he employed when saving the day. Wanting desperately to hold him, but knowing she was incapable of moving, she settled for conveying her feelings through the kiss.

Rodney pulled back after several minutes passed, but it felt much too short for Jennifer. Their combined heavy breathing was the only sound besides the hum of the air supply system in the room. Taking a long, shaky breath, Jennifer opened her eyes and stared at the man before her. "Was that motivating enough?"

Rodney burst out laughing as he rested his forehead to hers. His hand wrapped around her neck and he pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "With that kind of motivation, I could take on a Hive ship."

Jennifer laughed and moved her hand around his waist to rub his back. "I'd prefer you don't bring me along for that."

"Deal," he said.

"So…" Jennifer started only to have her stomach growl.

Rodney laughed and drew away, which caused her to grumble. "Don't worry, just getting your dessert."

"Dessert?"

"Blue Jell-O, a fruit cup or…" he paused and dramatically reached into a pocket on his pants and pulled out a _Butterfingers_.

Jennifer broke down laughing and didn't stop until tears leaked out of her eyes. "I barely remember anything I said or did, but can't believe I mentioned that those are my favorite candy bars."

"Some day, I'll tell you all the embarrassing things you said and did, but not today," Rodney said, picking up the fruit cup and the Jell-O. "What'll it be?"

"I always loved the fruit cup," Jennifer said.

Rodney opened the container; wiggling his eyebrows he removed a spoon from the box and took a spoonful out. She smiled as he fed her and kissed her between bites, knowing that a relationship with the Great Rodney McKay would make her life very interesting. _This has been some welcome the Pegasus galaxy threw at me._ _Wait until Uncle Jack hears about this._

**

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A/N: Of course there needs to be a sequel. This is an AU of a SGA episode. Can you guess which one? I think it would have been better if the episode did not end so neat and tidy. Much more suspenseful not knowing what was going on.**_  
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